


Overture

by Just_a_useless_writer



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: ! - Freeform, Anal Sex, Angst, Attempted Suicide Mention, Blow Jobs, Camille - Freeform, Choking, Complete, Depression, Dissection, Dry Humping, Face-Fucking, Fluff, Gore, Hand Jobs, Happy Ending, Identity Reveal, Kids, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Minor Character Deaths, Murder, Not Phantom Planet Compliant, Pompous Pep, Portal accident associated body horror, Soulmate AU, Switch Danny, Switch Vlad, The gally-hin oc, Time Skips, Torture, Violence, Vivisection, Weddings, What if they actually talked, blood And ectoplasm and all that, core stuff, its still a happy ending despite this trust me, major Character death but like redacted, mentions of self harm, slowburn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:40:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 179,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27094435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_a_useless_writer/pseuds/Just_a_useless_writer
Summary: Soulmates are not born, they are made.They are a constant in the universe, a fact humanity has come to know and accept, yet due to the nature of human change and growth no one is born with a set soulmate.—————————————————————————————————Daniel Fenton and Vlad Masters discover that due to similar life experiences they are potential soulmates and will do everything within their power to prevent their soul bond from being completed.Because that would be the worst.
Relationships: Danny Fenton/Vlad Masters
Comments: 327
Kudos: 400





	1. Lines in the Sand: Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, listen, listen.
> 
> I know I’ve only ever written blue exorcist fanfics and it absolutely feels like I’m cheating on my main fandom, but there’s just some really interesting topics this show has to explore and I’ve been dying to do a soulmate fic, something that stories about demons don’t readily lend themselves to so idk if you’re one of my regular readers going bruh what are they doing i feel ya and I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Also this is the prologue and is set in past tense, all other chapters will, for the most part unless I feel like we need a flashback, will be in the present tense.

Soulmates are not born, they are made.

They are a constant in the universe, a fact humanity has come to know and accept, yet due to the nature of human change and a growth no is born with a set soulmate.

Soulmates form slowly and outwardly their progression towards becoming solidified appear as marks around the neck. One by one lines appear throughout a person's life, the length varying from case to case until one day the line completes its journey across someone’s neck in the presence of an individual’s made soulmate. The completed bond is sealed by the initials of one's soulmate inscribing themselves in colors around the now full black choker

For those with multiple soulmates two or more unconnected lines would complete themselves and for the people with only one soulmate the extra lines they had gained throughout their lives would fade once their soulmate line fully formed.

Some people had several separate lines before their soulmate bond completed, whether those lines be gained through romantic or platonic connections. In many cases they could be used as an easy gauge of someone’s ability to interact genuinely with others

The bond lines, as most people referred to it, appeared as the result of impactful events in people’s lives, particularly when those events involved two or more people to reflect their growing bond, although it was not unheard of for soulmates to gain bond lines across their necks when alone.

However, it was generally agreed upon by the scientific community that lines such as those were exclusively gained from extremely impactful experiences, particularly those related to deep, long lasting traumas.

* * *

  
Daniel Fenton was born with a bond line.

About three inches long the line stretched across the back of his neck, right below where his spine connected with his head, running over the junction. Its' position was one of the few things Danny was glad for, it could be easily hidden by his messy hair that his parents had given up asking him to cut.

He didn’t know who his bond line belonged to, but he did know one thing; whatever had happened to his potential soulmate had to have been terrible.

The longer a new segment of a bond line was the stronger the event that had formed it. He’d had that fact drilled into his head his entire life. Bond lines almost always formed while soulmates were apart due to serious events, occurrences that caused a deep mark not just across the neck, but on the mind and the soul of a person.

One of Danny's potential mates had been through something so unique, so huge, it had marked him before he’d even taken his first breath.

It wasn’t just that either. The average humans' neck was approximately fifteen inches long and with a whopping three inch mark whoever this other person was had claimed essentially one fifth of his soul, twenty percent of him.

He had known his best friends Tucker and Samantha since he was five and his separate lines for their bonds were only two inches long. In ten years they had not managed to create bond lines longer than the one Danny's other potential mate had created in one single moment.

Sure, Danny understood that the lines connecting one side of a bond line to the other end tended to form in longer segments as you got older and he was only fourteen, but it still felt ridiculous. Sam and Tuck were his best friends in the entire world and some no one he didn’t even know still appeared to have a closer bond with him? It was frustrating and concerning all at once. What event was more important than ten years of close, dedicated friendship?

Sometimes he’d stand in front of the mirror and look at Sam and Tuck's lines on him, they were visible from the front unlike his first one. One was pressed right up under his right ear and the other sat a little ways down off center of his left shoulder, not too far from the clavicle. Sam's was the one below his ear. Danny knew this because Tucker had a matching mark. The mark above his clavicle belonged to Tucker, and Sam often commented on how her matching mark looked good beside necklaces.

Danny's mark was set along the back base of the neck, their bonds forming in that two inch line they all knew so well right over the space between Sam and Tucker’s shoulder blades

His hand reached back, tracing his fingers along the bottom of his skull where he knew his third mark was, the one he didn’t share with his friends, and imagined someone else far away touching their own neck above the shoulders. He found it rather curious sometimes that their lines had both started on their backs on their necks, most people’s tended to start around the front like Tucker's had.

Part of him hoped the line would never complete. He hoped deep down that he, Sam, and Tucker would complete their lines eventually and his first line line would fade, leaving the three of them with two lines each, one for each of their forever persons. Soulmates could of course be entirely platonic, although he understood that his feelings regarding his friends could change in the next couple of years, the stupid pamphlets he’d gotten in sex-ed had been very clear about all the joys of puberty. Still, he kind of liked the idea of just having two best friends for the rest of his life, no romance necessary.

Another part of him felt guilty for those thoughts, though. He knew whatever had happened to the other person had been awful and if he completed his bonds with Sam and Tucker then that line would fade, leaving his other person with what exactly? It had been fourteen years and the line at the base of his skull hadn’t faded. He had Jasmine check every now and then, but it never went away. Within the span of fourteen years his other potential mate hadn’t completed a bond with anyone else.

How would they feel if one day the mark they surely had above their shoulder blades just disappeared? How would Danny feel about doing that to a stranger?

He didn’t know.

He was fourteen and it was a heavy question even for the adults in his life. Did he necessarily owe that other person anything? How could he be expected to always consider a stranger when forming bonds with others? Should he let it dictate who he was friends with or potentially fell in love with?

It was all too confusing.

And then out of nowhere things had become a thousand times more confusing.

He should have known he was being an idiot, looking back he wanted to hit himself. Who in their right minds looks at a huge, dangerous piece of untested lab equipment and thinks, ' _You know what, I’d like to go in there_ '.

Once Jasmine had found out she had told him that groups of people could encourage one another to do things they would not have otherwise done. Swept up in the fervor of mixing ideas and the need to impress one another people could wind up in situations they wouldn’t have alone. This was especially true when all three members of a group were over curious, rebellious teens.

Stepping into that ghost portal had been the single stupidest decision of his entire life.

* * *

It'd had hurt, flipping that switch, hurt enough to where he didn’t talk about it. Couldn’t. Trying to voice it, form the experience into tangible thoughts, hurt too.

It’d felt like being hit right at the back of the head, punched harder than Dash could ever dream of hitting him. It'd felt like the bones in his body had come undone, like his skin had been peeled away in one long, curling strip to reveal whatever lived underneath. It had burned and yet it hadn’t, all at once as his nerves had fried. He’d seized, tightened beyond comprehension. Sometimes if he thought about it too much he’d remember his jaw snapping closed hard enough to fracture his teeth in their sockets as the electricity of the portal tore through him.

Light had expanded around him, burning white and green until his muscles had squeezed and squeezed until they'd rent from his bones.

Had he exploded? Popped right there like some microwaved grape?

He wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but it wasn’t hard to picture, his muscles twisting and contorting until they pushed through his skin, pulling the bones along with them.

Later he’d read that nine out of ten people who got struck by lightning survived, but he wasn’t sure if he was part of the nine or if he was the one out of ten that died.

The only thing he knew for sure was that he’d gone into the portal one day and he hadn’t come out the same.

Everyone had panicked. He didn’t remember all of it. He had been pulled to the lab floor and Sam and Tucker's hands had been above him.

In that moment, that blur of half consciousness he’d notice something; not their voices or the lingering pain in his body, not the cold that seemed to have settled forever in the core of him, no, he’d noticed the soul line above Sam's collar bone, Tucker's mark, longer than ever before.

Danny reached up, touched right where he knew he had the same mark, hidden under the hazmat suit. Tucker had turned to look at Sam and when he had Danny noticed that Sam's line, the one right beneath Tucker's ear, was different too.

An impactful event, experienced by all three of them.

* * *

When the shock of what had happened had mostly faded and Danny had managed to shift back into his human body they'd retreated to his room and looked at their marks.

Sure enough they had all lengthened by about two inches, quite the sudden increase considering their ages and while it made sense to them, Danny had essentially died, it hadn’t been simple to explain.

They had downplayed the incident to Danny's family, saying he’d been outside the portal and had merely received a bad shock. Danny's parents were quick to notice the marks however and had insisted that it must have been worse given that the event had so clearly impacted all of them. Luckily however Sam has jumped in and explained that at first when her and Tucker had seen Danny seize up they had thought he was in fact going to die. They had thought the worst and it was likely that Danny had too. Danny had been quick to nod along and besides it wasn’t a complete lie. He had thought he was going to die, the only difference was he kind of had.

Sam argued that while the event itself wasn’t all that bad the fear it had put them through was what had caused the sudden increase in length to their bond lines. Sam and Tucker had momentarily thought they were watching their best friend die and Danny had thought he wasn’t going to survive.

At the time Jazz hadn’t known the full story, but she’d agreed with Sam. She had read in several of her psychology books that just the idea or suggestion of certain events could cause trauma which could in turn lead to bond lines appearing or lengthening. The threat of dying and seeing a friend die was more than enough to scare anyone so of course they had grown closer through both it and the following relief of seeing that Danny was okay and relatively unharmed.

Danny's parents had accepted the explanation and had stopped investigating the true severity of his accident, but what was most concerning to Danny, beyond the whole being both dead and alive thing, was that when Tucker was checking out Danny's marks his hands had frozen.

“Dude,” Tucker’s voice had been quiet and when he’d touched the back of Danny’s neck his fingers had, just for a moment, felt as electrified as the portal had been.

The hair on his arms had stood stiff. “Tuck...”

Tucker hadn’t answered, at least not at first despite knowing full what Danny had meant to ask. Instead he’d motioned for Sam to come over to him, the action making dread fill Danny's stomach.

Sam came close and Tucker brushed Danny's hair back from the base of his neck to fully reveal his third mark. Danny winced at the touch and how Sam had sucked in a large breath of the room's too still air.

"Guys come on what is it?"

Sam has left his side then to go to his desk and rummage through his drawers and although Danny had had his back towards her he’d had a pretty good idea of what she’d been looking for.

Just a moment later a cold, metal ruler had pressed up against his neck, right at his third bond line.

"Four more inches, at least." She’d said, tracing the line as it wrapped further around Danny's neck than it ever had before.

" _Four_!" The word had come strained and choked from his throat, "Four more inches?"

"Dude, you did essentially die." Tucker reasoned stepping back around to his front as Danny had lifted a hand to uselessly scrabble at the back of his neck as if he could actually feel the mark. "It wasn’t fun."

' _Yeah no shit_ ' Danny had thought because, yeah, yeah it hadn’t been fun at all but, "Ours only increased by two inches! Why would it be four for them?” What about his death made it more impactful to an absolute stranger than to his best friends? If anyone was going to care about him dying it was going to be Sam and Tucker not someone who didn’t even know what had actually happened or who he was.

Speaking of, if he ever met his other soul bond, let alone completed the bond, how was he supposed to explain that he had sort of, most likely died and could turn into a ghost?

"Well," Sam had started to say, setting the ruler down on the desk and seating herself on Danny's bed, "We know they're older than you, since you were born with your mark, so maybe that's why, after all the marks form in-"

"Longer segments after you've matured, yes, yes Sam I know, but four inches! Sam! That’s seven inches on that line now, practically half of my neck and I’ve not even met the person!" He’d buried his face in his hands and leaned all the way back until he was sprawled out on the floor, groaning. "We've known each other for ten years! Since kindergarten! You guys saw me die! You know I can go ghost now! And for what? Four inches while some, some no one has seven inches on my neck! They don’t even know me!"

"Hey, hey, bud," Tucker had leaned down, kneeling beside him to rest his hand on his shoulder, "Even if you complete a soul bond with someone else we're still all going to be friends."

Somehow Tucker had known exactly what to say. They hadn’t talked about wanting to be a soul bonded trio in a while, despite that being a common topic of conversation particularly in elementary school. But Tucker had known, just like he and Sam always seemed to know what was on Danny's mind when he was troubled.

Same had nodded, "We don’t need a completed bond to know we’re going to be friends forever."

Danny had sat up, took a deep breath and smiled, "Thanks guys." He’d said and meant every syllable, if they could get through him dying and him being a ghost, sort of, then they could get through anything.


	2. Marks left incomplete

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To those of you who have not read my fics before: Gore warning, and honestly it should be like blanket applied to the whole fic tbh
> 
> To those of you who had read my other fics: Hey, welcome back, you know I gotta have gore in it. This chaps not too messy compared to like harvest glut and a few of the nest of wrens chaps though. 
> 
> Vlad gets big sad  
> Danny gets hurt  
> And Vlad gets roasted 
> 
> What more do ya need?

  
Danny laid his head down on his desk and groaned, eye bags burning under his eyes. It had been two years since his incident and he still wasn’t used to the lack of sleep he got when patrolling for ghosts at night. He yawned, jaw cracking with the movement.

It would be so nice to just let himself drift a—

"So, Mr. Fenton could you tell us the plot?" A voice cut through his haze and he sluggishly lifted his head.

"Hm?"

"The plot, Mr. Fenton, of Pride and Prejudice, our reading assignment." Mr. Lancer said

Danny stretched, a few of his injuries from the night before were still healing and his muscles tensed with the familiar burn of strains. "Oh," Right, he’d actually read some of this one so it shouldn’t be too hard, "Elizabeth she, she doesn’t want to be with that one guy."

" _Very_ good Mr. Fenton," Mr. Lancer answered, placing a lot of stress on the word very that made it sound like he wanted Danny to elaborate on what he had said, but when he didn’t he simply turned to the rest of class, picking up where the exhausted teenager had left off. "And just why doesn’t Elizabeth want to be with Mr. Darcy, or as you say, that one guy?"

No one bothered to answer. Danny was sure someone knew, but nerves choked half the class' responses to the backs of their throats and the other half either didn’t care or simply hadn’t read that far. Danny didn’t feel like answering again, he’d already been pestered into talking when he could have been taking a well earned nap.

Mr. Lancer decided to continue on without any of them, "Elizabeth sees Mr. Darcy as proud and disagreeable, and in someways he is, but what Lizzy doesn’t see is why he behaves this way, or how he acts when he is alone. Mr. Darcy is far more shy and reserved than he lets on at first and despite their differences, misunderstandings, and Elizabeth’s own pride they grow closer over the course of the book." He picked up the large novel from the edge of his desk and held it up like he was a preacher addressing his congregation. Everyone's eyes flickered to the clock, it was only five minutes until lunch period, people starting to pack up in a shuffle of pens, papers, and backpack zippers. "Remember, you have to finish the book by Friday if you have not done so already, there is an exam and there will be an in class essay section."

Everyone groaned.

Danny let his head fall back, running a hand through his hair to push his bangs from his eyes. He was definitely not going to have the time to finish the book. He was just going to have to pull up a summary and pray the essay question was easy to bullshit.

"People, people, this has been on the syllabus since the first day of this semester let’s not be so dramatic." Mr. Lancer called over the bell as it rang, everyone jumping up and filtering out into the hall.

"You look deader than usual," Tucker chuckled as the three friends found themselves in the crowd on the way to the lunchroom.

"That one never gets old, Tuck," Danny hummed, although it was good naturedly. He’d long given up being annoyed at Tucker's ghost puns and he was a pun man himself so it wasn’t like he had any room to talk.

"How late were you out last night?" Sam asked as they stopped at the line. She stood beside them despite not needing too, having decided to pack her own lunches since the Lunch Ghost would experience a second death if she ever saw a vegetable with any nutritional value on the line.

"Bout 3:45-ish, not horrid, I fit a solid nap in." He said, holding his hand out for the item he knew Sam was about to hand him. She pressed a small compact mirror into his palm.

Not long after his incident he had started borrowing Jasmine’s make-up to cover up his top mark. It just hadn’t sat right with him that a stranger owned such a large portion of skin and he got tired of people wondering who his other bond was. Dash had teased him about it at first, but two years later it was considered stale bullying material for the most part.

His parents hadn’t been particularly thrilled about the decision to cover the line, after all, what if he ran into his potential soulmate and didn’t realize it? Danny’s own soul mark, sitting at the base of the neck, was very easily covered by most shirts so a more prominent one like the stranger’s would likely be the only indication that he had finally met his mystery person.

There had been something in his mom and dad’s eyes during that conversation, something they weren’t quite telling him. A few of their sentences had trailed off as if other, wandering thoughts had pulled them away from the train of conversation if only for a moment.

Danny had let it go though, figuring they were just worried about him, and so was he, in different, other ways. But he’d decided that he wasn’t going to let a faceless person dictate his life.

Besides, Sam and Tucker already knew what they were getting into with him if they formed a soul bonded trio.

Being half ghost for two years had taught Danny many things, but one of, if not the most important fact he had learn was that he was immortal.

Not functionally immortal, immortal, immortal. He could bounce back from serious injuries, regrow limbs, the works. Dead people couldn’t die twice. So long as his soul remained in tact that was. His adventures through time had shown him that if his soul was detangled from his being entirely his physical body could perish fully and leave absolutely nothing behind while his soul, his ghost, retained his mental capabilities.

However, that future was not an inevitability and he’d do everything he could to prevent it.

Beyond the incredible healing though, there was another concern.

He was going to stop aging.

Danny wasn’t sure when, but he knew it was going to happen.

His parents commented fairly often about how Vlad Masters, their college friend, better known to Danny as Plasmius, looked so young. In fact he didn’t look a day over his early to mid thirties. Vlad waved this off easily. He was rich after all, he had a luxury skin care routine and access to world class estheticians and dermatologists. He had an incredible dietary consultant who made sure he only ate the most natural good for you fruits and vegetables. He exercised regularly with a personal trainer. He’d go on and on about just how he managed to stay young looking, but Danny wasn’t an idiot.

Despite how he loathed the man Danny had been watching him fairly close for some time and he was certain that Vlad had stopped aging. His hair managed to make him look older than he physically was, but knew the truth.

Vlad wasn’t getting any older and at some point Danny wouldn’t be either.

How was he supposed to explain that to a stranger?

Not long after he’d come to terms with his immortality he, Sam, and Tucker had made a contingency plan. He wasn’t sure if he would ever tell his parents he was a half ghost, it just didn’t feel like it was in the cards for him. Their fervor for ghost hunting had only grown over the years and they showed no signs of slowing down.

At some point they would realize Danny wasn’t aging. They would grow old and so would Jazz and he just wouldn’t.

So he, Sam, and Tuck had decided that at some point they were going to fake their deaths. They didn’t know when that point would arrive, but they’d been over what it entailed, including having to say goodbye to their families and friends.

Danny couldn’t soul bond to someone else.

He couldn’t expect someone else to disappear with him too, it had honestly made him feel guilty enough when Sam and Tucker had insisted they fake their deaths along with him, and he couldn’t leave a soulmate behind to grieve for him.

If he fell in love that would mean breaking his soulmate’s heart or carrying around the weight of knowing his soulmate had to give up their entire life for him.

It was bad enough Sam and Tucker were planning on doing it, bad enough that he’d have to watch them age and die eventually too.

He just couldn’t add anyone else to that list.

So he hid his third mark.

Danny didn’t want to know who they were. He didn’t want to bond with them. He knew the monster grief could turn him into and he wasn’t going to add any extra logs, extra attachments, to that fire, that possibility.

He opened the compact Sam had slid into his hand, catching his appearance in the mirror. His eye bags were dark but what else was new? He tilted his head to where he should have been able to see his third line, but the make up was holding fine.

He was looking forward to the day when he didn’t have to bother covering it.

“I’m going to have to buy some more concealer soon,” he hummed as he closed the compact and handed it back to Sam.

“At least you don’t have to cover it up while in ghost form, I don’t think I’ve seen a paler color than the shade you use,” Tucker teased, grabbing Danny’s wrist to turn it over and expose the extra pale underside. “You really need some sun dude, you make printer paper look tan.”

Danny tried to imagine the pale, slightly greenish glowing concealer he would need if he had to hide his third mark in his ghost form and laughed. Who would even sell it? There certainly wasn’t a Sephora in the Ghost Zone.

Luckily, soul bond lines only showed up on ghosts if they’d been competed in life. None of his lines had been completed so none of them stayed on him when he shifted.

“We should go to the lake soon,” He suggested, taking the square pizza on a styrofoam plate he’d been handed by the lunch lady.

“Well, not this weekend.” Sam said, looking out a nearby window to the gloomy day outside, “Weather channel said this morning that’s there’s going to be thunderstorms all week.”

“Who in their right mind watches the weather channel?” Tucker asked as he punched in his lunch number allowing the three of them to find their typical space in the lunch room.

"Someone who would rather know if her outfit was going to get rained on, this look takes time you know." Sam said, opening her lunch box and pulling out her food. It was easy to forget sometimes that Sam had money, sure she didn’t flaunt it all the time, but he could understand her not wanting to get her expensive clothes wet, let alone have her makeup ruined. Honestly they were lucky she had the money, she’d started squirreling her weekly allowance away for when they inevitably had to 'die'.

A burst of thunder rumbled through the school as the clouds finally gave up on holding in the rain. Looking through the windows it seemed for just a moment as if the sky had fallen out, a wall of white static raindrops washing over the world in a wall.

"Hey Danny, just be careful when you go patrolling after school, okay?”  
  


* * *

Vlad stretched in his chair, kicking back until his feet didn't quite meet the floor and the leather backing arched under him, arms lifting above his head.

It was about time for a lunch break

He spun around, standing to walk over to his office’s window. It was raining, the town outside the city hall building a mess of car headlights sliding over pools of water, the sky a deep, heavy gray as if the clouds thought they could settle to the ground in a thick fog.

Well, he certainly wasn’t going to go out for lunch. He’d have to order something.

He turned back to his desk and picked up the landline, waiting for his secretary to pick up the receiver, their voice coming over through speaker a moment later, “Yes, sir?”

“Could you go ahead and order my regular to be delivered from that sandwich shop I like downtown, little too messy out there to bother taking lunch at the cafe.”

“Sure thing, I’ll bring it in when it arrives.”

“Thank you,” He said before putting the phone down and looking towards the stack of papers at his desk. He should get back to work, but he had a sandwich on the way and something about waiting for a delivery made it hard to focus on a task. Oh well, he deserved a bit of a break.

Vlad found himself staring out the window again a few moments later, watching as the rain fell to the earth, lightning burning its way across the clouds, in a bit of daze. He closed his eyes, listening to the outside and he could almost smell it, smell the petrichor and the electricity. It was a soft joy, one he held since childhood, to enjoy the wind and rain.

He sighed, hand lifting to brush along the front of his neck, the feeling making him shiver as he remembered the spot where Maddie’s soul line had used to be. Right above the voice box, settled delicately beneath his chin.

His hand drifted down a ways, touching the spot where Jack’s mark had been too, cutting across the bottom front of the throat.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed they had all formed quick bond marks. It was hard not to considering they were either in the lab or in Vlad’s shared dorm with Jack eating ramen on a messy, decade old couch.

Long nights in the library, Maddie handing everyone coffee in the lab, Jack making fudge, their bond lines had grown significantly over the course of their studies and for a while there it had looked like they were going to form a trio. Their marks appeared in tandem, kept up with one another until they were almost fully completed and Vlad had never pictured himself in a trio, but as the months had dragged on he’d started to almost embrace it.

There a domesticity to it he had never expected. There were moments when he could have paused time and sat on that stupid couch, lounging beside Maddie as Jack carried on about whatever convoluted idea he had, forever.

At night, laying in his small dorm bed, he’d thought about it. Thought about getting their degrees, becoming ghost experts together, buying a house, getting a cat maybe even a dog, he wasn’t a dog person per say, but if Maddie or Jack had wanted one he wouldn’t have said no and then maybe, maybe someday they would have even had k-

Vlad shook his head. Nope.

He was not doing this today.

He was not going to let himself spiral.

He had been in his accident, Jack had jumped in front of Maddie, he’d been rushed to the hospital and when he’d woken up his marks had been gone. He’d spent years dying and Jack and Maddie had gotten married and bought that house and had those kids and that was that.

That was that.

It wasn’t hard for him to figure out, he’d known it not long after he’d gained enough lucidity through the pain of ectoplasmic radiation, juvenilely referee to as echo-acne, that Jack jumping in front of Maddie had sealed his bond with her, leaving Vlad and his own freshly faded marks alone.

There were no more nights on the couch, no more long hours in the lab, or coffee, or fudge or any of it.

They’d left him behind.

He took a deep breath. He was done thinking about it for the day.

It wasn’t like Maddie had obviously been out of range of the proto-portal and Jack should have jumped to knock him, the person in actual danger, to the floor. No, no nothing like that. Nothing like that at all and it wasn’t li-

Nope.

He clenched his hands.

He was done. For real this time, he wasn’t thinking about it.

Luckily a knock came at his door before he could inevitably spiral back down into his thoughts because no matter how many times he told himself he wasn’t thinking about it he would slip back in. It’s what he always did. If he just let himself think quietly for a moment his mind would just walk right back into that lab, into that accident, to the empty, hollow, excruciating nights that followed.

Vlad turned and went to the door, taking the sandwich his secretary handed to him with an appreciative smile and nod.

Now he could get back to work and distract himself from his thoughts, especially the ones about his other mark which he typically circled around to after thinking about Maddie and Jack for an hour and a half or so. Usually after the third inner monologue about the incident in a row he would land on his mystery mark.

It had appeared a few years after his incident, right at the base of his neck above the space between his shoulder blades. It had been three inches long and then for fourteen years, nothing. Nothing at all and then suddenly, four more inches, just like that, just in the middle of the day.

He’d never found his other person, but he’d wondered a lot about what had made the marks appear and in such large chunks too.

He also wondered how he was supposed to explain that he was a half ghost immortal that regularly beat up a teenager and his friends for fun. That information wasn’t typically what one would put on an online dating profile, not that he bothered with any of those.

But enough thinking for one afternoon, he had a tuna melt and paper work to get to.

* * *

  
The bell for school rang and everyone jump from their seats, Danny rushing out of math class to meet Sam and Tucker by his locker.

"Dude no ghosts all day, sweet!" Tucker said as he saw Danny, the pair of them fist bumping in celebration of the good luck.

"Perfect day for it too," Sam said, "I really don’t want to go patrolling in that rain."

"Yeah you guys should head home, I’m going to do a quick round and then head back to my place," Danny agreed, there wasn’t much of a point in dragging them all out when it was clear to him that the ghosts wanted to avoid the crappy weather just as much as the humans did.

"Just remember what I said, be careful." Sam stressed again and he nodded.

"Sam it’s fine, it’s good."

"Don’t let the thunder spook you, dude, we know you have a thing about it." Tucker said as they started to walk to the front of the school with the rest of the students, everyone filtering out to cars, busses, or the streets to brave the storm outside.

"I do not have a thing about it," Danny said, watching as Sam and Tucker rolled their eyes, "Okay, okay, but it’s gotten a lot better. I haven't flinched once because of it today."

"We know," Sam grabbed his hand and smiled up at him, "That's why we trust you to do a quick lap, but we still get to say be safe."

Danny flushed, "I know, I know, I’ll be careful, promise."

His friends had been overprotective of him at first but as the months had turned to years and Danny had gotten stronger they had grown to trust his judgement more and more. They knew he had been scared of thunder and lightning for a while after his incident, but he’d gotten better with time and now he could fly in it no problem.

Danny was pretty sure it had been fighting with Vortex that had made him more confident in bad weather. Kicking a world wide storm's ass was a bit of an ego boost.

They went their separate ways, Sam and Tuck walking under umbrellas and carrying Danny's backpack with them so it wouldn’t get soaked as Danny found a secluded spot to shift and take to the sky.

He turned intangible quickly, having learned from experience that being intangible massively cut down on wind resistance. It also made it to where the raindrops didn’t hurt his face when he flew too fast.

As predicted there weren’t any ghosts hanging around and his patrol was going rather smoothly until he got over the main drag of Amity.

He was flying fairly high up when a flash of lightning struck far too close for comfort, exploding a power line transformer below him.

Danny flinched, okay, okay he was better about bad weather but that would have terrified anyone! No one in their right mind was just fine with lightning being close to them, it just wasn’t normal.

He sped up, trying to ignore how his hands wanted to shake as the storm picked up around him, but not a few seconds later the entire world shook.

Terrifyingly loud the sound of thunder rocked the sky, making the glass on the nearby buildings tremble.

Danny gasped, panic seizing his chest as he froze. Why was thunder always worse? It couldn’t hurt him, couldn’t shock him like the lighting, or the portal had that day, but something about it, about how he could feel it in his bones made it feel like his teeth were going shake free of his head.

He clamped his hands over his ears, concentration failing for just a moment and that’s all it took to turn him tangible again. Despite all the practice, despite all the days spent telling himself he wasn’t scared anymore, that’s all it took.

The world lit up.

Danny was back in the portal. He had to be. Light swelled around him, his ears rang, he pressed his palms closer and closer to his skull.

It hurt.

Just as bad as he remembered it had, just as bad as he dreamed it had. He didn’t know if he screamed, he probably did, but he couldn’t hear anything over the ringing. Pressure filled him, cooking him from inside as it built until he felt his skin tear. His insides were going to melt and boil over and blood and ectoplasm were going to come gushing through his pores, through his mouth, nose, ears, eyes. He couldn’t see.

He was falling.

He didn’t know when he’d stopped flying, probably somewhere between getting hit by lightning and having his skin rip open to reveal the oddly green muscles underneath. It didn’t matter though because he had other problems now, namely the ground which was moving very quickly towards him and his half melted brain that couldn't produce any other thoughts than t.v static.

The building came close faster than he had expected it too, the stone cold and wet as he slammed into it at an angle, body crumpling. Fire seared through him, a shove, just a slip of a second too long and then searing, ripping. He’d landed feet first.

His legs shattered, bones and tendons rending through the skin, but they hadn’t managed to stop his momentum and he’d hit the roof's edge, not anywhere where he could rest. He flailed, spinning, tipping over in a rush, body end over end.

Like a stray ball falling through the limbs of a tree on the edge of a baseball field he tumbled, hitting the building's angles and windowsills, hitting his head, arms, already ruined legs, and body, before landing in a bush.

He was mostly unconscious, that was, he should have been unconscious, would have been had he been fully human. He let his head roll back onto the ground and groaned, hair flattening against the water soaked, cedar wood chips.

This wasn’t exactly ideal.  
  


* * *

A few hours of relative productivity passed for Vlad in his office and when he looked at his phone he found that it was already 3:25 pm. He smiled, he’d done a good job slogging through the paperwork for expanding one of the roads downtown. All the business owners were upset about it because it would cause them to lose some of their parking spaces or their storefronts right up against the road, but they had to do something about the traffic. The town’s population was increasing not to mention tourism was up due to all the ghosts about. It was time the town grew to reflect that.

He set the paperwork aside, standing to stretch and as he did another bolt of lightning zipped through the sky, the resounding thunder music to his ears. He hummed, he would sleep well that night with all the noise. Another bolt was quick to follow, however this one came with a distinctive yell and a thud to the city hall roof.

Vlad's ears strained. Had anyone else heard that? His ears had been sensitive since his incident so he wasn’t sure what normal humans could hear anymore, he’d spent too long as a half ghost to really remember.

He was going to poke his head out his office door to see if his secretary had noticed anything when a black and white, and very, very green figure, careened off the railing of his office's false balcony.

Daniel?

His eyes widened. The yell, the time, 3:25, he was out of school and doing the daily patrol he always did at this time of day.

He phased his head through the wall of his office and looked down to the bushes far below and sure enough several limbs were broken and the railing on his false balcony was smeared with electric green ectoplasm.

"Daniel?" No answer. He frowned, if this was some sort of trick it was a pretty stupid one.

He floated down to the bushes, not bothering with his Plasmius form as he stuck his intangible head through the leaves to look at the small opening behind the plants where they met the wall. His stomach flipped as he did and he pulled away, taking a breath. Maybe a tuna melt had not been a good choice of lunch.

He held up his hand as if someone could see him, pointer finger up as of telling them to give him a moment. Telling himself to give him a moment as he swallowed down the quickly forming heartburn in his chest because Daniel was an absolute mess.

Vlad hadn’t looked for long, but he’d seen enough. Daniels legs, if they could reasonably be called that anymore, were shattered like a pair of stick pretzels at the bottom of a bag and he was fairly certain that his left femur had been shoved up through his pelvis to poke through his side fairly close to his belly button. One of his arms was hanging on by the tendons while the other looked as if it’d been run through a dulled wood chipper, split and smoking, chunks torn free. His neck was broken, bent at a horrid angle that left his spine exposed, bone stark white amongst the green ectoplasm there was so much of. A solid portion of Daniel's skull was caved in, one of his eyes deflated where his frontal lobe had been smashed to bits, pieces of brain scattering across his forehead and newly twisted nose.

"Fruitloop."

Vlad jumped, flailing for a moment, not that he’d ever admit to doing such a thing as a nervous sound escaped unbidden from his chest. "D-Daniel?"

"I am not in the mood to fight you right now, so if you could go, that'd be great."

Butter biscuits, how was Daniel even managing to talk let alone retain so much awareness, his brain had been turned to slime!

Vlad poked his head back through the bush, "I am not about to fight you l-“ he pulled away again because Daniel had tried to move and the cut his femur had torn in his stomach had stretched and grown and now his intestines were threatening to seep through the hole and he just really, really couldn’t look at it.

"Great, good, goodbye," Daniel said curtly and how he managed to sound annoyed at Vlad's presence of all things was beyond the older halfa's comprehension. Shouldn't he be freaking out?

Vlad tried to look anywhere but at the bush, anywhere but at the growing pool of ectoplasm that was seeping out from under the leaves to brush along his expensive shoes and mix with the mulch, dirt, and rain water. As he did he caught sight of a woman, not too far from them, walking up the sidewalk. Her umbrella clutched tightly, head bent against the wind, she would have seen them had she not been focusing on getting wherever it was she was going without getting soaked. Sure, Daniel's body was mostly obscured by the bush, but the growing pool of bright, toxic green glowing ectoplasm was not hard to miss.

Vlad turned back to the bush and reached his hands in, grabbing Daniel by his still mostly attached arm as he made his decision. Only, Daniel didn’t seem to follow and shook him off with far more strength than Vlad had expected.

"What the fuck, Plasmius, I just said I’m not in the mood to fight you!" He snapped, trying to scoot away and despite the anger etched in his one good eye, Vlad could hear how his heartbeat picked up, causing the ever growing sea of ectoplasm beneath him to expand faster, "Look I know you could care care less, but I’ve left you alone when you looked less shit than this, so could you for once just mind your own business?"

"It’s couldn't."

Daniel blinked at the non sequitur, "What?"

"It's couldn’t care less, you said I could care less, that’s wrong, that’s not how you word that phrase."

Daniel groaned, attempting to lift his hand to cover his face in annoyance, but he couldn’t even manage that, "I’m bleeding out behind a bush and you want to play grammar police? Could you just go?"

Vlad didn’t answer, merely reached forward again, his grip tighter this time as he grabbed Daniel. The younger halfa struggled.

"Vlad! Vlad, idiot, stop!" He hissed and Vlad noticed a few of his teeth had gone missing.

"Stop fighting you're going to make your injures worse."

"What do you care? I said let go!"

"I cannot have you actively dying outside of city hall, Daniel." He bit out, finding that Danny's ectoplasm made it hard to get a solid grip on him, particularly when the teen was still managing to struggle as much as he was. "People can see you!" Okay, that wasn’t entirely the truth, people could potentially see the massive pool of ectoplasm, but his explanation felt close enough to him, it covered the important things.

Half of him had stupidly expected Daniel to calm at the statement, but instead of stilling, Daniel merely turned intangible, making it even harder for Vlad to grab him.

"Oh excuse me I’ll die passively, cool, great we could come to an agreement, now could you _gooo_ ," Danny said as he managed to turn his leaking ectoplasm invisible too, asserting a control over his body Vlad hadn’t known he’d had. Becoming intangible was one thing, but managing to turn body parts that weren’t necessarily attached to you anymore intangible and invisible was another. Again, he had to wonder at how Daniel was capable of such lucidity in his current state.

It didn’t matter, Vlad turned his body intangible too so he could grab Daniel again, "I will not go, Daniel, you won’t be able to maintain invisibility in this state. You'll turn tangible again and then we'll be back at square one."

"How about you stop telling me what I can and can’t do, Plasmius."

Vlad ignored him and the overwhelming smell of organs that was starting to get under his skin, "Not to mention you're likely going to turn human at some point." Vlad was surprised he hadn’t reached that point already. "I cannot have a dead kid outside my office!"

A dead kid smeared in ectoplasm, it would look like a ghost attack, but why wouldn’t the mayor have noticed a ghost attack where some innocent teen had been murdered happening right outside his office? Wouldn’t he have heard something? Even over the rain ghosts attacks tended to fair on the noisy side? Why hadn’t he called an ambulance?

His head ran through all the stupid, annoying questions he could potentially be faced with if someone noticed Daniel's body. He didn’t have time for any of that.

Danny wasn’t the least bit surprised that Vlad cared more about his image than the fact that he could see his lower intestines, continuing to struggle despite the pain of it, moving to charge a ghost ray into the palm of his hand, but he couldn’t manage to, "So toss me in some hidden ally or something, then leave." He growled, shoving vainly at Vlad's chest.

"Oh absolutely not, I’m taking you to my house where I’m sure you won’t be discovered in this state."

Danny's one good eye widened for a split second, imagining how truly vulnerable he was in this position and all the things Vlad could do to him. He knew his struggles meant nothing, Vlad was really only humoring them, but he continued to fight anyway, pushing with broken arms and legs until he exhausted himself even further, the loss of ectoplasm and swell of adrenaline and pain finally getting to him him.  
  


* * *

He woke up on a couch, jumping hard from sleep, snore cutting off in his airway with a jolt as he sat up only to wince in pain, body unready for the movement.

"Lay down." A stern voice he unfortunately knew well came from behind Danny as Vlad walked into his study, not bothering to open the door as he phased through the wood.

Danny shifted, propping himself up on his elbow, a thick, milky plastic crinkled underneath him. He looked down, was this, construction grade plastic? On a couch? "You're more of an old lady than I thought." He grumbled, looking around at the rest of the study, expecting to find the whole of it covered in the plastic. However it seemed that the only wrapped piece of furniture was the one he was laying on.

"Funny," Vlad said humorously, arms crossing over his chest as he came over to lear above Danny's form, "The plastic is to make sure you don’t make a mess. I couldn’t have you bleeding all over my couch."

"So considerate." Danny huffed, laying his head back. It didn’t look like Vlad was going to attack and maybe he didn’t have to because Danny's head felt heavier than it should have given the circumstances, "What'd you give me and don’t lie."

"I’m surprised you noticed considering your frontal lobe was smashed to bits when I found you." Vlad said as Danny lifted his hand to experimentally to brush over his forehead, it was still fairly tender but it didn’t seem broken anymore. "I gave you some sedatives and pain relievers specifically for halfas."

Of course he’d realized it, it wasn’t his first time on a harder drug, he’d been severely injured before. He had learned fairly quickly that most of the medicines kept in the local vet's office could work on humans, or at least halfas, he wasn’t sure, but they could help. He’d felt bad about stealing before but there’d been little option sometimes and it wasn’t like he could simply buy most of the medical supplies he needed. Not that he was going to tell Vlad any of that, he knew the man would just turn it around on him, gloat about how Daniel Fenton acted so high and mighty, acted like he wouldn’t use his powers for personal gain only to turn around and steal from the good citizens of Amity.

"Please tell me I am not the first halfa you have tested those on," he really wasn’t in the mood to be a guinea pig.

"I've used these on myself, yes, among others..."

Danny's lips met in a pressed line, "So Danielle."

Vlad didn’t grace his statement with an answer and part of Danny was grateful for that, he didn’t want to know what Vlad had done to Danielle to warrant the use of drugs, or picture him simply testing them on her.

He looked down at his body, "I’m going to head home."

"You're legs are still broken, Daniel."

"I can fly, don’t know if you forgot."

Vlad narrowed his eyes before pinching the bridge of his nose, "You are high on pain killers and you will have to shift forms in order to get past your parent’s ghost shield." He reasoned, sigh heavy in his voice, “Do you have any idea what happened to you? You were stuck by lightning, fell from who knows how high, hit city hall, shattered your legs, had your femur burst through your pelvis and out of your stomach, broke several ribs and both your arms, and you had your skull bashed in. How did you even manage to stay in your ghost form."

“I’ve had practice.” He said before he could think about holding the information back, about not wanting Vlad to know how badly he’d been injured before, how much practice he had truly gotten. So, to distract himself Danny shifted to test out the extent of his healing, knowing he could change back fast enough to kick Vlad’s ass if he got any ideas.

He looked down at his now human body, wiggling his toes. “I’m healed enough, I’ll say I fell down the stairs.” Not that Vlad actually cared.

Vlad watched as Daniel transformed, surprised that he had and also not surprised by his poor lying skills, “Maddie is far too smart to believe that, Jack, that buffoon, however-“

Danny let out a loud groan, waving his hand lazily above his still drug drunk head, “ _Wow_ my dad’s stupid, real original. You know he has several advanced science and engineering degrees right?”

Vlad almost laughed, the sudden push of air though his nose somewhat startling in the stifling room. He grinned smugly, that shit eating smirk that made Danny want to hit him in the face, “Having college degrees does not necessarily make someone smart, little badger.”

“Yeah I can tell that by looking at you.”

Vlad’s smirk fell from his face, his expression flowing from shocked, to affronted, to annoyed in the sliver of a second. He opened his mouth to snap back, to continue the banter that seemed to color most of their interactions, but the words dried up in his throat as Daniel leaned forward in a stretch, taking in a deep breath to check the state of his fractured ribs.

As he did Vlad caught sight of an all too familiar soul line settled right up against the base of Daniel's skull and seemingly just as long as the mark Vlad hid beneath the high collar of his three piece suit if he was looking at the smeared remnants of makeup correctly.

His blood ran cold.

_No_.

That couldn’t be...it couldn’t, it just couldn’t he refused to accept it, but- his mind flickered back through the years. His mark had first appeared a little over sixteen years ago, Daniel’s age, and it had lengthened significantly about two years ago, just a few months before he’d met Daniel, right around the time when ghosts had started complaining about a rather rude ghost child.

It’d been two years and he’d never seen the mark. How? How? He kept cameras in the Fenton household he should have spotted Daniel applying the make up —but, Vlad cursed himself inwardly. In a moment of moral strength and intellectual weakness he hadn't placed camera’s in the family's bathrooms. If Daniel kept the mark constantly hidden and only reapplied the makeup in the bathroom it would have been fairly reasonable to miss.

But why did he keep the mark covered? He didn’t keep his other marks covered. Vlad has seen the one below his ear and occasionally the one above his collar bone. Had Maddie and Jack told him about how Vlad's mark presented itself? Would they have thought to? There were over seven billion people in the world and necks weren’t exactly big, it wasn’t uncommon for someone’s soul mark to present identically to someone else’s, that was just a matter of probability. Speaking of which it could still be a coincidence, a terrifying one, but a coincidence nonetheless.

"Hey!" Danny snapped, having ended his stretch and caught the older halfa looking at him, odd expression on his face, eyes glued to his neck. His hand rose to cover his skin, leaning over to look at his reflection in Vlad's ostentatious glass coffee table and gain a quick peek at his throat, finding that his topmost mark was exposed. Damn, he must have turned human at some point during his fall due to the lightning stalling out his powers, the rain and any ectoplasm that may have gotten on his neck before unconsciously shifting back seemed to have smeared his makeup. "Can you stop looking at my soul marks it’s fucking rude."

Vlad tore his eyes away, embarrassed he’d been caught, "Daniel your language!"

Danny rolled his eyes as he shifted on the couch, placing his legs on the floor to start testing out how much weight he could take, "Oh sorry let me try again," he said sarcastically before doing an oddly accurate impression of Vlad’s voice. “Butter biscuits on the Green Bay Packers 50 yard line, can you stop looking at my soul marks it’s _fucking_ rude.”

“Seriously Daniel, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”

“I mean you sure don’t.”

“Ugh!” Vlad threw his hands up and Danny thought for a moment that he looked a lot like a three year old about to throw a tantrum in a grocery store, half expecting him to stomp his foot. “Was that really necessary?”

“I don’t know, _Vladimir_ , was it really necessary for you to kidnap me off the street, take me to your house, and inject me with God knows what?”

“First of all, Daniel, you were not on the street, you were in a bush in front of city hall, and second of all where should I have taken you, hm? Do you call it kidnapping when the ambulance picks someone up to take you to the hospital?”

Danny stood, finding his legs could take the weight now even though it still hurt quite a bit, "Oh please, it’s not like you're an EMT." He said, lifting his shirt to check his stomach, it probably wouldn’t be good to have it tearing open as he flew across town, no one needed innards on their car's windshield. However, as his fingers felt along his skin he felt the distinct bumps of stich threads, "You stitched me up!?"

"I have more medical knowledge than all the doctors in this town combined, Daniel, especially when it comes to beings like us," his voice did that god awful annoying thing where he pridefully sucked in a bit of air, snobbish, bastard, "And of course I stitched you up, it stopped the bleeding faster, less mess to worry about."

"Oh well I’m glad you won’t have to scrub ectoplasm out of your million dollar carpet."

"Two million."

Danny waved his hands mockingly like unenthusiastic jazz hands, "Wow, great to know, I’m leaving." He transformed back into Phantom, moving to fly out through the wall, but Vlad spoke again before he left because the man didn’t know when to shut up.

"I’m not going to get a thank you or anything, I could have just left you there."

"Really wish you would have, Plasmius." He left Vlad with that, hoping that some of his ectoplasm had gotten onto that two million dollar carpet for Vlad to clean up himself after all.

* * *

Vlad watched Daniel go, sighing heavily. It wasn’t as if this was the first time he’d been relatively civil to him only to have it thrown back in his face. Honestly he didn’t know what he’d expected. He was mostly surprised they hadn’t gotten into a fight, although that probably spoke more to the extent of Daniel's injuries and the energy his body had burned healing, than to any sort of manners the teen had.

He looked out the nearby window, arms folding behind him. The storm outside had settled down for the most part, there hadn’t been much more lightning once he’d gotten Daniel to his home.

The boy had been a broken, bleeding mess of sharp snapped bones and bright green ectoplasm. He had smelled strongly of wall outlets and burnt hair, static still seeming to course off his body and the fabric of his jumpsuit. He’d torn both of his femoral arteries and if he were a human that would have been a death sentence in and of itself, but no, Daniel, being Daniel, had gotten himself injured far worse than even that.

Vlad had taken him down to his lab and for a moment he’d wondered what he was doing, but then he’d remembered he’d been in similar situations and no one had helped him.

He’d run into his fair share of injuries, some from other ghosts, some from accidents, some self inflicted, but none of them had been fun and he knew healing injuries as bad as Daniel’s would be a long and painful process.

What he hadn’t told the other halfa was that along with the sedatives and pain medication he had given him Vlad had also given Danny a healing agent, and a rather difficult one to make at that. He didn’t have much of it, the chemicals were difficult to come buy even for someone with his wealth. Really he had been quite generous and he’d only thought about taking advantage of the situation four times, he was practically a saint.

Oh well, he’d done his good deed for the year. Okay, for two years, maybe two and a half. Either way, he could let Daniel’s childishness slide off his back; it wasn’t as if he was going to let it get to him. He wasn’t that petty.

He nodded to himself, turning from the window to go to his room, he had something he needed to check.

Maddie the cat bumped his leg as he stepped into the hallway and he smiled, leaning down to scoop her into his arms. Her white fur always got all over his suit, but that’s what dry cleaning was for. “You been good today?” He asked as her paws settled against his chest to knead biscuits into the front of his shirt.

She meowed softly.

“Yeah, me too.” He hummed as he walked up his stairs, he could teleport or fly up to his room, but Maddie didn’t like it very much. It scared her and of course he wasn’t about to worry her, what kind of dad would he be if he did?

He sat her down oh so gently on his bed, scratching under her chin for a moment before pulling back and stepping into his walk in closet. He slid off his suit jacket and laid it over one of the small seat stools, glancing over at his full length mirror as he lifted his hands to undo the red tie around his neck. He set it down, hands returning to unbutton his pressed, white shirt.

At some point he had started shaking as it really sunk in what he was checking for, what he was undressing for.

His fingers began to have trouble with his buttons as his shirt pulled open to expose his chest, heartbeat picking up. What he had seen had been a coincidence, that was it, and he was going to prove it.

He was going to check his own mark because making sure your potential soulmate didn’t die in a bush probably counted as a bonding activity and if his mark was longer then he’d know. But it wasn’t going to be longer because that was ridiculous and besides, besides, when Daniel had looked in the glass of his coffee table he hadn’t seemed to notice anything was odd about his mark.

Although Daniel was about as dense as a box of rocks so who's to say if he would have even notic-

No, that thought wasn’t really helping.

He tugged the shirt off, folding it carefully then setting it down, taking in a deep breath and holding it for a moment before letting it out slowly and turning to the side so he could see the mark that had for years now tried to make its way around his neck.

"Well fudge."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> K so I was like thinking to myself would it not be extra angsty if Vlad's trio of friends with Jack and Maddie was a direct parallel to Danny's trio with Sam and Tucker, so tada this fic also features a bit of past Vlad x Maddie x Jack and he’s extra upset about it because now they’ve left him behind in several ways. 
> 
> Me in the first scene: Lol what if the foreshadowing was really heavy handed.
> 
> Vlad in the last scene: I am a good dad I do not scare my cat uwu  
> Me lookin at Danielle: U-Uh that is not correct 
> 
> Also I decided that I want to use this fic to kind of experiment with my writing style a bit so I’m going to be focusing on voice, sentence structure, and paragraph structure. For example the POV is going to typically sit around third person limited with character insights. So like, in the scenes focused on Danny we'll get reflections on why Vlad is dumb, and in Vlad’s sections we'll see like him talking to himself (because he does I said so).
> 
> Also, also, let Danny cuss and let him call Vlad, Vladimir, to annoy him


	3. Laying Borders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vlad and Danny have an important chat.
> 
> Also, I know like nothing about football, so I’m not making y’all sit through a detailed football scene. But if I still managed to mess something up well you’ve been warned.

“It is not weird to watch a teenager and his friends go to the lake.”

“It is not weird to watch a teenager and his friends go to the lake.”

Vlad repeated the words to himself as he stared out his car windshield, looking over a cliff situated above one of the nearest swimming hole to Amity, below him Daniel and his friends were settling on to the pebbled beach, unpacking a few fold away chairs, an umbrella, and a cooler from the car Samantha’s parents had bought for her when she’d gotten her license.

“That’s not really helping,” A second Vlad supplied as he grabbed a doughnut from the box Vlad had picked up on his way over to the hiding spot, getting comfortable in the passenger seat.

“That’s true, but you don’t have to say it.” Vlad huffed, picking up the pair of binoculars he’d brought to get a better look, he needed to confirm what Daniel’s soul line looked like and he knew well enough that his two friends would have it on them, “And could you stop pilfering the doughnuts you don’t even have to eat.”

His clone looked at him from the corner of his eyes, but said nothing as he took another bite, and Vlad wondered, not for the first time, what it said about him that he didn’t particularly enjoy his own company.

He sighed and looked down towards the rock beach, focusing on Tucker who was only in swim trunks. Samantha was wearing a thin cape of all things, so he couldn’t see her back. Of course he didn’t have much room to talk when it came to capes. He found it a bit odd that Daniel transformed into the hazmat suit he had died in. Didn’t he know he could change the clothes he shifted into when going ghost? It wasn’t as if Vlad had died in his Plasmius outfit, he had actually died in a hospital gown, but he had found the idea of floating around the ghost zone with his backside hanging out to be very embarrassing.

His palms heated up as Tucker turned, Daniel’s line settled prominently between his shoulder blades, right where Vlad’s mark was too. It was a bit shorter than his, something that Vlad found surprising. It wasn’t as if he and Daniel went out of their ways to interact with one another, although he had been debating on why their lines would be as long as they were if they were in fact potential soulmates.

His leading hypothesis was that they had both died under similar circumstance and were in essence two of the excruciatingly few of their kind and because of this fate had made the terrible assumption that they might bond over it.

The smell of burnt leather and aluminum began to fill the car and his clone poked him in the side, making him come back from the distracted thoughts looking at Daniel’s mark had made him spiral into. He jumped a bit, letting go of the now far too hot, melting binoculars, their warped form falling into his lap.

“This isn’t ideal.” His clone grumbled and Vlad knew he was right. He’d overheard Daniel mention to his friends that his third mark had lengthened by about an inch when he’d checked the security cameras he had placed in the Fenton household, the same length Vlad’s own had grown. Daniel hadn’t seemed to have connected it to their interaction a little over a week and a half ago and for that Vlad was very grateful, but seeing Daniel’s mark on his friend’s back had been the last piece of the puzzle he’d needed to come to a terrible conclusion.

“That’s the understatement of the century.”

* * *

“I just don’t get it.” Danny said as he turned the umbrella pole intangible so he could more easily sink it into the rocky beach beneath his feet, turning it solid again a moment later to open it up. They might have been there to help him get a tan, but Sam wasn’t about to risk getting a sunburn, “What if I complete the soul bond without even meeting them.”

“Danny you know that can’t happen, the last segment of the line has to be completed together, that’s soulmates 101,” Sam assured as she sat her chair down in the shade he had made, expression mostly obscured by her large sunglasses.

“I know, but a lot of wild stuff has happened these past few years and at this point I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“He’s got a point,” Tucker said, pulling one of his sandwiches out of the cooler before sitting on top of it, "We didn’t think someone could be both dead and alive, but here we are. Who knows if it could affect how his lines develop.

A pit formed in Danny's stomach, imagining himself with a soulmate he hadn’t planned for or expected or wanted.

About two weeks ago Danny had stumbled home, legs still weak as he walked up the stairs, coming down from the high of Vlad's drugs. He had collapsed into his bed and slept until his alarm for school had gone off. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten so much sleep, but given the extent of his injuries he wasn’t too surprised. However, he didn’t get to enjoy the rest, the alarm blaring to remind him that he needed to head to school. Tiredly he’d rushed through what homework he could and a much needed shower, applying his typical makeup and getting dressed in a haze of movement.

Unfortunately the ghosts had been fairly active that day, seemingly wanting to make up for the time they had wasted the day before. He had barely left his front door when the box ghost had appeared beside a moving van and by the time he had taken care of things for the freshly terrified newlyweds moving in near Fentonworks he was late for class.

The rest of the day had slogged on in much the same manner. Dash had gotten some stick up his ass because the football game had been canceled due to the thunderstorms predicted through the end of the week and had taken it out on Danny. His chemistry teacher had decided it was the perfect day for a pop quiz. Then the lunch ghost had appeared because the weekly sloppy joes hadn’t been served due to the stove in the lunchroom kitchen breaking down because it was older than Danny's parents.

For all the changes Vlad had made to the town since becoming mayor he could have at least put some more funding into the school, but he hadn’t even done the bare minimum when it came to helping Amity Park’s education system, beyond the brief uniform stunt that was. Students weren’t even allowed to run for student council on a platform based around fixing the broken down bathrooms anymore, the board had just gotten so tired of hearing about it when the budget didn’t allow for new stall doors.

Despite the awful day Danny had made the poor assumption of thinking it was getting better once he, Sam, and Tuck had cleared out the last of the ghosts on patrol and they’d all returned to Danny’s place to play video games and attempt to study. Needless to say the calm was short lived because as soon as he got home he had gone to the bathroom for a quick shower. Fighting ghosts worked up a sweat and a rinse once he got home was part of his daily routine after two years of being the town’s sometimes loved, sometimes hated superhero.

As he’d wiped away the fog from the mirror his stomach had dropped to his feet and if he’d looked down and seen it on the floor he wouldn’t have been too surprised. It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d accidentally phased part of himself away from his main body.

There, across the topmost part of his throat was his third soul mark and it certainly didn’t stop where he had remembered it stopping.

“Um guys!” He called for Sam and Tucker who were in his bedroom and the panic in his chest squeezed his heart as he’d listened to them move through the walls to come out into the hallway.

“Danny are you okay?” Sam had asked, voice laced with worry. Usually when he did something embarrassing like call them to the bathroom out of nowhere his powers had messed up. He’d called them in once because he’d grown three extra arms and hadn’t been able to get rid of them.

Tucker poked his head in the door, “You decent dude?”

Decent enough for them at least, towel secured around his waist, “Yeah could Sam get the ruler?”

Tucker’s eyes met his own, “Dude are you serious?”

“Tucker please.”

Tucker didn’t pull away from the door as he called to Sam, “Hey, could you get the ruler from the desk?”

“No? Really?” Sam’s voice had made Danny shut his eyes, nerves swirling around him in a way that had him burying his face in his hands with a loud groan.

“Looks...looks like it.” Tucker said and Danny hated the amount of worry and dread that his friend’s voice held. They had never straight up admitted it to him, but Danny knew they had their own concerns about his mark.

Sam came back a moment later, walking in to find Tucker rubbing Danny’s back as Danny tried to take deep, slow breaths. Part of Danny wished he was just loosing it, wish he had hallucinated the length of his mark, but Sam had sighed which was never a good thing when it came to soul marks and looked at Danny’s reflection, “It’s an inch longer."

Danny groaned. His marks with Sam and Tucker had been so close to catching up with his third, he had been hoping to pass it soon. He had wanted to give himself that false finality, that lie of having put it behind him while he waited for it to truly be over.

"When did it happen?" Tucker asked.

"I don’t now, I don’t know," he said, anger and frustration and confusion making his voice crack, "It wasn’t like this the last time I checked it, but I was running late this morning so I just put on my makeup real fast."

"So it happened sometime between taking your makeup off last night and now." Sam said, leaning against the sink.

Danny nodded even though he knew that wasn’t quite true. His friends assumed the last time he checked it had been before he’d gone to bed. They assumed he had gotten home safe and taken his usual shower because that’s what Danny had told them had happened.

He hadn’t wanted to worry them, or make them concerned about his fear of lightning. He figured that he was healed and that was what mattered. He had lived, sort of considering his circumstances, and had made it home. They didn’t need to know that he had broken most of his bones after being struck from the sky and they certainly didn’t need to know he’d been over at Vlad's place. There was no point in bringing it up and Danny knew his friends well enough to know they would have freaked out over it and that had been something he wasn’t too keen on having happen.

The truth was the last time he had check his mark had been in Vlad's office as he’d leaned over the coffee table. Danny could remember that much, but what he couldn’t remember were the details. He knew he had checked, but he couldn’t recall what he had seen beyond telling Vlad to stop looking. He couldn’t remember freaking out over the length which is something he probably would have done had he seen a difference, but he wasn’t sure if there hadn’t been a difference or if he had just been so high he didn’t remember freaking out over one. Of course he also could have just been too high to notice a change too.

So the real window of time was from when he’d checked his makeup in the lunch line the day before to right then in the bathroom.

"Did you interact with anyone out of the ordinary since then?" Sam asked and Danny thought about it.

"No I don’t think so." Especially not in a bonding way, he figured he would have noticed if he had gone through something emotional and impactful with a stranger.

They had spent the next few days talking about the increase in length, trying to decipher what it meant. Maybe his potential soulmate had gone through something else bad and it was like the other times where there hadn’t been any direct interaction.

They had settled on that for the most part, but Danny wondered if his own injury that day above city hall had had anything to do with it. It was possible that he had been too high to notice a difference when he looked at his reflection in the glass of Vlad's coffee table. Perhaps something bad hadn’t happened to his potential soulmate, perhaps the bad thing had happened to him, but it was that line of thinking that only led him to more questions.

He had been injured a lot over the two years since his incident, arguably worse than he had been that day. If he was the cause of the increase, then why had it been the lightning strike and not his numerous other misfortunes? Did it have something to do with his underlying issues with electricity? Had his mark considered that trauma more impactful than getting beaten up by ghosts regularly?

Danny wasn’t sure. But what he was sure of was that he was starting to get very frustrated regarding the whole issue.

Sam pulled him from his thoughts by lifting a hand to take his own. It was something she did often and it always helped him ground himself back in reality, "Ghosts don’t keep unfinished soul bonds when they die, so I don’t think Danny being part ghost is effecting how his line is appearing." She said and Danny allowed himself to take comfort in the words. He shouldn’t have been worrying about it. He had told himself that he wasn’t going to let it bother him, not today.

Today was for the three of them, and that was enough

* * *

  
Vlad's pen flicked rapidly between his fingers, feet tapping against the ground in a nervous rhythm.

What on God's green earth was he supposed to do?

What on God's green earth was he doing?

He looked down at the paper...at the contract.

The truce.

Or well, what was supposed to be a truce because he had no idea what to write. He had always assumed it would be Daniel who broke down and pestered him about this first. He knew it would have had to have happened eventually, the whole getting Daniel as a son thing had really fallen through and they had continued to fight for years now so he’d come to the conclusion that eventually they would get tired of it.

He and Daniel were immortal. From a logical standpoint they had two main options. Either fight forever or stop at some point and sort of begrudgingly accept one another's existence. Due to the never ending nature of time the odds leaned towards them stoping eventually....Vlad just hadn’t pictured it happening so soon and he certainly hadn’t pictured himself in this less than desirable position.

His furrowed brows had long since burned a headache into his temples. What was he supposed to write? How did he approach this subject? He opened one of the dozen half crumbled pieces of paper on his desk and reread what he'd managed to get down during his previous attempt, trying to encourage his brain to give him something, anything, to work with.

_‘Dear arch nemesis_

_Unfortunately we have formed a potential soulmate bond that is already quite developed and I cannot interact with you anymore in any capacity without risking increasing the chances of us becoming fully bound to one another.’_

It sounded so cheesy, so wrong. Firstly, he didn’t want to write the words _'Dear Daniel'_ because the word ' _Dear_ ' and the word ' _Daniel_ ' did not go together in any capacity and considering their predicament he found it especially off putting. Secondly though, writing _'Dear arch nemesis'_ sounded over the top even for him.

What was he supposed to do, write _'To whom it may concern'_? He knew dang well who it concerned and it was the most annoying person to ever exist!

He threw his pen down and buried his face in his hands, leaning over the table. This was going to be awful. It already was awful.

But what could he do? He couldn’t risk fighting with Daniel anymore, not knowing that their marks could decide that any activity they did counted as a bonding one. He’d already taken that risk far more often than he was comfortable with. They had been fighting for two years, but not all of it had been fighting. No, there had been moments when they had had to work together, moments when they’d ended up biting their tongues and helping each other. Those instances hadn’t seemed to have counted in the past, but Vlad knew that once Daniel matured fully his soul marks would start filling up faster.

He had to nip this in the bud. If he waited their marks would slowly, but surely begin to close around their necks faster until it caught them up like a noose, trapping them with one another and all the stupid, lovey dovey feelings soulmates always seemed to have for one another.

Knowing their luck they'd be romantic soulmates and not the platonic kind and that thought made Vlad want to bleach his eyeballs and drink drain cleaner.

A Vlad clone manifested on the desk, picking up another one of the papers because he knew he should be working on the truce proposal but he also really didn’t want to look at it with his own eyes.

The clone grimaced, making a little "hnn" sound in the back of his throat as he read before speaking, "You know, I don’t think it wouldn’t be too hard to learn how to perform a lobotomy, how far into our brain do you think we could get before you’d stop being able to clone yourself?"

Vlad groaned, "It'd just heal."

"Well, if we had to do it every day from now until forever I think we would get very good at it."

"I think there’s an orbitoclast pick down in the laboratory."

The clone clapped his hands, "Excellent, better than brandy!"

Vlad’s impromptu self surgery plans were interrupted by his phone ringing loudly with the ghostbuster's theme song Jack had insisted upon setting himself.

"Oh nice, you should let Jack give us the lobotomy, he always was _so_ skilled in the lab," his clone hummed sarcastically.

Vlad rolled his eyes, "I'll pass, I think his voice is enough to scramble my frontal lobe in and of itself." He picked up the phone, voice evening out to a more civil tone, "Hello J-“

"V-man!" Jack's voice boomed over the speaker, but Vlad knew his habits well and had thankfully been holding the phone at a safe distance. "There you are!"

"Yes Jack, I’m here, this is my phone for which you have the number."

"Listen! Maddie and I were wondering if you'll be over for game night this week! It’s the Packers vs. the Vikings, your favorite!"

For once Jack was actually right, that match up was his favorite and Vlad watched every year to make sure his team ground their rival into the dirt. He’d like to watch it on his big screen, after all what good was a home theater if you didn’t use it, but he also needed to force himself to be around Daniel one last time or he knew he’d end up putting the discussion off forever, which wouldn't work because knowing Daniel he’d come looking for Vlad to demand what evil scheme he was planning.

He also knew that if he said yes, Jack would insist upon Daniel being at home to watch the game too for some father-son-uncle bonding time. If Daniel was in his own house during a discussion about a truce he might be more inclined to listen because he might feel safer. In his experience as a businessman Vlad had learned that people were more willing to negotiate if you went to their office as opposed to asking them to come to yours. Giving someone the space to feel like they had the upper hand could open the floor for a discussion and a discussion was exactly what he needed with Daniel. This wasn’t something they could talk about on the battlefield and Daniel certainly wouldn’t willingly come to Vlad’s house upon being invited.

"I would absolutely love to, Jack," he lied, putting on a warm tone. "I’ll be there before kick off."

Jack immediately launched into a speech about how excited he was and about how it was going to be like the college days, which Vlad found funny because it was never going to be like the college days ever again. Jack didn’t seem to comprehend this though and just kept chattering away, he mentioned the snacks they’d have, how Maddie would be there too, how Danny was absolutely going to be excited that his Uncle Vlad was coming over because the two of them just never got to spend enough time together, and on and on and on in that manner.

Vlad listened until Jack had tired himself out if only to give himself an excuse not to write the truce papers. His headache worsened and he pinched the bridge of his nose hard to try and alleviate it as Jack said about a million and a half goodbyes.

Finally the phone call disconnected.

Vlad’s clone hummed, mussing a bit with the papers and pens, "Are we still up for that lobotomy?"

"No," Vlad grumbled as he picked his pen back up and began to write "I’m on a schedule now.

* * *

  
For the first time in Vlad's life game day came too fast. The match up between the Packers and the Vikings was something he always looked forward to, but today it just put a pit in his stomach.

He was sweating like a sinner in church just thinking of what he was going to do during the game, or after, he preferred after, actually he preferred not at all. His head met the steering wheel of his car and he groaned, he was going to be sick. He had decided to drive himself over to the Fenton's to try and clear his head, let the windows down and enjoy the air, but all he’d really ended up doing was making himself dizzy and more worried than before.

This was going to be disastrous.

His hands clenched around the wheel, the letter in his inner suit jacket pocket burning against his chest and he half expected it to catch on fire.

He was really going to do this wasn’t he? He was going to propose a truce, give up fighting Daniel, give up trying to make Maddie and Jack see they’d made mistakes, give up Amity, all so he didn’t accidentally get trapped with a soulmate he didn’t want?

Yes.

Yes it seemed like it.

Fate had always been particularly short with him, but this had to be one of the worst instances of bad luck he’d ever run into, stumbling into a soul mate bond with his rival who happened to be the stubborn, arrogant, immature son of the two people he had once longed to bond with.

He needed to take a few minutes to psyche himself up, swallowing his pride as much as he could before he got out of the car he’d parked outside the Fenton home. Luckily, Jack hadn’t seemed to have noticed him, because if he had he would have come running out. Vlad knew well enough that if Jack had seen him pull up he would have already been crushed in one of the man’s hugs. Speaking of which he also had to psyche himself up for that.

Eventually he stepped out of the car, despite the dread building in his stomach he wasn’t about to miss the kick off. The Packers were too important for that.

The Fenton household was noisy as he approached it, but that wasn’t anything new and before he could open the door Jack nearly tore it off his hinges to fling it open for him.

“Vladdie!” Was about as much of a warning that Vlad got as Jack suddenly scooped him up into a hug that had his spine cracking, feet lifting off the ground. For a moment Vlad almost wished he didn’t hate it. He hadn’t disliked it so much back in college.

“Yes, yes, Jack I’m here!” He pushed at the man’s shoulders to be set down, he didn’t necessarily need to breath anymore, but suffocation was still extremely uncomfortable, “Try not to break my ribs!”

Jack set him down heavily, Vlad straightening out his suit and hair meticulously to try and regain some semblance of composure. He caught sight of Daniel eyeing him from the hall, as protective as ever of his home and family like some demented guard dog. Vlad’s gaze lowered to Daniel’s neck and found that he couldn’t see any marks, assuming his own had once again been covered by makeup. His mouth went dry, he could feel the seconds ticking down to the conversation they needed to have and despite all his planning he wasn’t positive he could make the talk a smooth one.

Jack finally moved away from the door and he stepped inside, smiling over at Maddie who was pulling some wings out of the oven, “Maddie, darling, it’s so good to see you.” He said, moving to take off his jacket only to stop when he remembered the letter tucked into his inner pocket. He certainly didn’t need Daniel getting any ideas and snooping around to find it. He didn’t know what he’d do if that information got out early.

Maddie didn’t say anything to him and Vlad took that to mean she was in a good mood, after all at least she hadn’t poured hot tea on him again. Their relationship had gotten a bit better over the two years he’d been in Amity, but it was still cold at best.

“Excited for the game, V-Man?” Jack asked, punching him good naturedly in the side, but with as a strong and excitable as the man was it still made his ribs ache a bit.

“Thrilled,” Vlad hummed and if Jack noticed the half truth, which Vlad seriously didn’t think he did, then he didn’t mention it as they moved into the living room.

Kick off was only a few minutes away and the coffee table in front of their small t.v was already covered in food. It didn’t look much different from the dorm he’d spent so many nights in and Vlad remembered yet another reason why he didn’t like to visit often. It wasn’t just that Daniel’s hounding was irksome.

A terrible feeling of hollowed out nostalgia settled over him.

* * *

The game went well and for that Vlad said a million thank yous to whoever was out there listening. He didn’t think he could have handled watching the Packers lose to their rivals and telling Daniel about their soul marks in the same day.

There was only so much one man could take.

As things wound down he found himself sweating again like he had back in his car, Daniel had been keeping a close eye on him throughout the game and Vlad hadn’t wanted to glare back at him to silent tell him stop. He had worried that if he did Daniel might have seen the nervousness in his eyes.

He didn’t want to appear any weaker than he felt and good lord did he feel weak. His heart had started trying to beat out of his chest part way through the final quarter and his collar felt to tight. He’d drank several drinks to try and alleviate how dry his mouth was and now his stomach felt upset and his leg was bouncing and he wasn’t sure if those were because of nerves or because of how much caffeine he’d ingested.

Jack's goodbyes always seemed to take forever but today they didn’t seem to take nearly long enough and before he knew it he was slinking behind the Fenton household to turn intangible and fly up into Daniel's room, hands flexing in and out in tight repetitions.

Daniel would be able to tell he hadn’t left the premises and would come find him in a few minutes, intent on making sure Vlad wasn’t up to something. The boy could be really quite predictable sometimes.

Sitting down on the bed Vlad wrung his hands. He shouldn’t be so worried, what was there really to be worried about? He tried to reason with himself as he waited. He was telling Daniel about their marks, he was proposing a truce. Worse case scenario they would fight and their lines would decide to grow, but they weren’t close to being connected so he didn’t have to worry about that yet. Reasonably there was little Daniel could do to stop him moving away to Wisconsin which is what he planned to do to help put the appropriate distance between them. He knew if he stayed in Amity Daniel would eventually get it lodged in his mind that Vlad was up to something and come see him. The teen didn’t have much impulse control when it came to his suspicions. Moving made the most sense to Vlad, it was best they just pretended they didn’t exist.

The door to the room opened, Danny transforming into Phantom the moment he closed the door behind him, anger roiling off him in waves, "I'm going to need you to get out of my house, Plasmius." He said, voice laced with the threat of what would happen if Vlad didn’t leave.

"I’m not here to fight."

"Get some new material, I’ve heard that one."

Vlad sighed and stood up, it looked like the moment had arrived. He moved to reach into his jacket for the letter, but Daniel was on him in an instant, tackling him to the ground. His eyes widened as he hit the floor, air knocked out of him at the force of Danny's attack.

"What weapon do you have?" Daniel demanded, holding Vlad’s hand by the wrists above his head, glaring down at him.

"I don’t have any weapon, Daniel." Vlad bit out, trying not to struggle despite all his instincts telling him to. He had to at least have the younger halfa receive them letter before they got into a fight.

"Bullshit, what were you reaching for." Vlad supposed that was a valid question all things considered, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t pulled weapons on Daniel before and Phantom was used to having other hunters take aim at him, he knew the movements to watch for when someone reached for an echo-weapon.

He took a deep breath in, "A letter."

Danny looked down at him, tense, but quiet for a long moment before finally asking, "A letter?"

"Yes, Daniel, a letter from me to you regarding a matter of great importance."

Danny looked down to Vlad's chest, knowing better than to trust him, "Where is it?"

"Right inner jacket pocket." Vlsd instructed as Danny looked back up at him, letting their eyes meet and he could see the questions Daniel wanted to ask but couldn’t. He wanted to know if this was a trap, he wanted to know what Vlad was up to. He wanted to know if Vlad would stay still long enough for him to grab the letter, if it even really was a letter? Vlad knew he’d need a bit of prompting to speed up this horridly uncomfortable process, "You can pull it out. If it’s a weapon you'll have your hands on it first."

The hands around his wrists tightened threateningly, "But if it’s a trap that then was your plan all along and it will spring on me."

"Then let me grab it."

"No, because if it’s a weapon then you'll get the advantage."

Vlad groaned with annoyance, "Daniel you’ve just created a loop, could you just listen for once grab it?"

Danny didn’t trust Vlad on the best of days, but he certainly didn’t trust him when he had that shifty, almost nervous look in his eyes. Vlad was hiding something from him. "Fine." He said, making a clone of himself just in case. It if was a trap Vlad wouldn’t capture anything of particular use since he could end the clones existence with a thought. It would also allow him to keep both hands on Vlad's wrists, holding him hard to the floor.

His clone carefully opened Vlad's jacket, nose scrunching with the action of touching the man, something he wasn’t particularly fond of. Reaching in his fingers curled around what did feel like a sealed letter, lifting it up to look at it.

"If these are adoption papers I’m going to freeze your hands off." Danny threatened as the nervous look in Vlad's eyes grew more apparent. Why had the man's heart started beating so damn fast?

"It’s quite the opposite," Vlad managed, wanting to wiggle away, tempted to turn intangible, "You don’t have to read it with me here, but you do have to read it."

"Oh I’m reading it with you here Plasmius, that way if I decided to kick your ass because of it I don’t have to fly across town." Danny said, dreading what could be in the letter almost as much as it seemed Vlad did. His clone looked down at the envelope. At least it didn’t have his mom's name written in fancy letters surrounded by heart stickers, that was probably the worst case scenario. Although if that was the case he couldn’t comprehend why Vlad would want him to read it.

His clone opened the letter, Danny watching as Vlad looked away from him, staring pointedly at the wall as the second Phantom began to read, face turning a dark red.

"Daniel, it has recently come to my attention, through our shared experiences as halfas, recent events, and my own investigations, that we share a potential soulmate bond."

The paper began to ice over in his clone's hands as Danny's eyes widened, "That's not...bullshit that's not possible." He snapped, suddenly realizing his slightly compromising position straddling Vlad's waist, holding his wrists, how Vlad couldn't look at him. He wheeled back, energy cracking around him in warning and fear as Vlad sat up and shrugged his jacket off, hands tugging his typical necktie away, "What are you doing?" Danny asked, voice coming out higher than intended, panicked, "Don't undress!"

Vlad was already undoing the top buttons of his shirt, leaning forward to expose the line he kept hidden beneath his clothes.

Danny had been about to yell at him again for how much of a crazed fruitloop he was for coming into his room, claiming they shared bond lines, then undressing, but then he caught sight of Vlad’s line. It was in the same position as Tucker’s and Sam’s, but longer. Vlad still wasn’t looking him in the eyes.

The man’s hand lifted to rub right where Danny’s third line was as if remembering its appearance on others, “I saw it on you when I picked you up after you landed on city hall. My line got longer that day and-”

And so had Danny's. He sucked in a sharp breath of air. He really had been too high on the drugs Vlad had given him to notice the difference and too rushed the next morning to pay any attention.

Anger and denial rose like bile to the back of his throat, "You're lying!"

"Why would I lie about this?" Vlad asked defensively as he stood, grabbing his jacket to hurry and put it back on, he’d presented all the evidence he needed to Daniel was just being childish.

"This is some sick new scheme you’re playing, Plasmius, and I know it." Danny’s clone threw the letter across the room, hands flaring with bright green energy as they both prepared to attack the other halfa.

"You think I want this, Daniel!" Vlad snapped, shifting forms defensively, "You think I'd ever want a soulmate bond with the likes of you? The single most immature, stuck up brat I’ve ever met in my entire life. The son of the people who tossed me to the curb like week old trash the moment they'd completed their own bonds, the moment they killed me and left me alone to rot? They stole everything from me and you’re hardly the consolation prize I had expected!"

Vlad narrowly avoided the blast of ectoplasm energy Daniel sent his way, "Get the _fuck_ out of my house!"

"Danny?" Jazz's voice came from the hallway, "Is everything okay?"

"It’s fine Jazz!" He called back, forcing his tone to be even and confident even as he glared holes through Vlad's skull. His attention refocused a moment later, the vitriol in his voice far from contained, "Leave. Or I will make you."

"Read the rest of the letter, Daniel." Vlad said as he turned intangible, no longer in the mood to be yelled at as he sank through the floor and out of the house. He’d done his part, it didn’t truly matter if Daniel read the rest or not, once Vlad disappeared from Amity he’d put two and two together about the lengths Vlad would go to in order to ensure their bond was never completed.

* * *

It took Danny a long time to calm down. He paced around his room, still in Phantom form because didn’t seem to have it in him to change back, though he did manage to dismiss his clone.

He picked up his phone several times as he walked from one end of the room to the other, part of him wanting, needing, to text Sam and Tucker about what had happened. Another part of him though didn’t want to tell them about it, didn’t even want to think about it. The very idea of him and Vlad sharing a soul bond was like putting his hand on the hot eye of a stovetop. Scratch that, it was like cutting his brain out and putting it on the hot eye of a stovetop.

What the fuck was he even supposed to type?

_‘Hey guys! Just so you know my third line is for Vlad so could we hurry the fuck up and complete our bonds because if I get stuck with him I’m going to physically launch myself into the cold dead wastelands of space!’_

At some point during his pacing his eyes caught sight of the letter on the floor. He tried to ignore it, went back and forth, back and forth across the hardwood, but now that he had noticed it his eyes followed it across the room, the white of it standing out like a stain. It was carving a headache into him, annoying him on purpose and it knew what it was doing.

“Ugh!” He leaned down and ripped it from the ground after a few more passes, crumpling it up in his hands and stomping over to his small desk trash can. He wanted to throw it in, wanted to burn it to ash in his hands with a ghost ray or something, anything! There was a blowtorch down in the lab maybe he could use that? Maybe he could set Vlad’s whole stupid house and stupid face on fire!

He stared down at the trash can, telling himself over and over to just throw it in, to rip it into a million pieces and be done with it, but he couldn’t.

A growing part of him needed to read the rest of the note, and not because Vlad told him to, but because if the first sentence had been that monumentally awful then what the fuck did the rest say?

Probably something along the lines of,

_‘This information has finally thrown me fully off the deep end and I will promptly be exploding the entirety of Amity.’_

His hands clenched hard around the paper, swallowing his nerves down thickly before smoothing it out to read the rest.

_‘I am calling a truce to end our fighting. As of this week I will be submitting my resignation as mayor of Amity and I will be returning to my castle in Wisconsin. I cannot risk having our soul marks lengthen, or connect fully, something that would likely occur if I were to stay due to the frequency of our arguments. I will make every effort to stay as far from you and your family as possible, do not expect to see me again._

_-Vladimir Masters’_

Danny stared at the words, letting them sink into him. At some point he shifted back to his human form finally, his ears ringing.

He had won.

Hadn’t he? This was what he wanted. Vlad was leaving. Vlad was going all the way back to Wisconsin and he wasn’t going to be messing with his family anymore.

That was...

That was good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada uwu
> 
> With the end of this chap comes the end of part one of the fic, the next chap will start getting more heavily into the plot and into the angst so heads up 
> 
> I hoped everyone like it <3 
> 
> Kudos and comments much appreciated!
> 
> I think my favorite line from this chap to write was 
> 
> 'This information has finally thrown me fully off the deep end and I will promptly be exploding the entirety of Amity.’
> 
> Because Danny is right Vlad can in fact be that dramatic.


	4. 1/3 and a party of 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two years have come and gone and Danny finds himself contemplating his life.
> 
> Vlad has a surprise birthday party and Danny ends up asking him an important question.
> 
> CW. Brief mentions of past attempted suicide.

Two years passed just like that. Before Danny knew it he was graduating high school and heading off to college, everything about it was so surreal he often had to stop and stand still for a second to take it in because...because it wasn’t supposed to be this easy.

Vlad has done as he’d written. He had resigned, returned to Wisconsin. Danny's dad was devastated and even his mom had appeared slightly concerned for a short time about his sudden decision to move away for no apparent reason.

Sam and Tucker had asked him what was up with it, but Danny had just shrugged and suggested that maybe Vlad had finally gotten it through his thick head that Danny wasn’t going to join him and he was never going to get revenge on Jack or marry Maddie or any of the outlandish plans he had been attempting to complete. They had insisted on spying on Vlad as he had moved, but luckily they had kept their distance because Danny hadn’t wanted to explain why the thought of being near Vlad annoyed him more than usual.

Amity was so quiet without him. Boring even, although Danny wouldn’t admit it.

Ghost encounters went way down. Vlad wasn’t constantly calling other ghosts to do his dirty work and the word around the Ghost Zone was that Phantom had finally, seriously beaten Plasmius and kicked him out of his territory. Just the thought of Phantom being that strong kept many of the ghosts at bay.

Danny was happy for the rumor and not just because he knew it would piss Vlad off. With less Phantom work he could finally get back to his studies. It wasn’t like he was bad at school, he was his parent's son after all. He’d been raised in a lab essentially, he just hadn’t had enough time to keep up.

The summer after Vlad left he arranged a deal with the school where he could take a few G.E.D classes offered by the local community college to help him catch up and graduate on time with his friends. He’d done well, excelling at math and science once he’d really gotten into it and for the first time in years he’d enjoyed being in the lab with his mom and dad talking about inventions.

He, Sam, and Tuck had all made the decision to attend the same college to help ensure they would finish their bond lines and after three acceptance letters from the University of Wisconsin-Madison arrived in the mail everything seemed to fall into place.

Danny could see a good portion of his life laid out in front of him. They got an off campus apartment with the help of Sam’s parents, they registered for classes, went to orientation. They were going to complete their bond lines soon, Danny appreciating that Sam and Tucker’s lines were finally longer than Vlad’s, and after that they’d finish undergrad and talk about maybe splitting up for graduate school if they needed to.

Danny was still aging which was good, maybe he wasn’t like Vlad and he wouldn’t be trapped in an endless existence until the heat death of the universe or whatever....and maybe he wouldn’t have to think about the parts of his future he didn’t want to think about, like outliving Sam and Tucker...

Sighing in his still mostly empty apartment bedroom Danny pulled himself from the morbid thoughts. They were getting harder to shake off. Sam had more than once suggested he talk to a professional, but it wasn’t as if he could tell a therapist he was part ghost so he didn’t see the point. He looked down at the bags he had brought in, they had all squeezed into Sam’s car and the Fenton RV for the move down and after about a million goodbyes from all their parents the three had finally been left alone.

He caught sight of his orientation pamphlet for school and frowned at the big red letters scrawled across the top.

‘ _Congratulations on becoming a Badger!_ ’

It certainly hadn’t escaped his parent’s attention that he had decided to attend their alma mater and they had been quick to send a letter to Vlad with the good news. Vlad hadn’t written back.

Every time he saw that word, badger, ever time he heard it, he wondered what Vlad was up to. Every time the school’s mascot had been referred to at the orientation he had half expected to hear Vlad’s voice again. Two years later and the man was still plaguing his thoughts.

He had a house other than his mansion nearby, Danny knew he did because his dad had carried on and on that they should pop by and see if ‘the V-Man’ was home. Luckily, Tucker’s parents had had to squeeze into the RV and Danny’s mom had insisted they come back some other time as it would be rude to drag the Foleys around with them to talk to an old college friend after such an exhausting move-in day.

Still, Danny had half expected Vlad to be in the apartment when they arrived or to appear as soon as Jack, Maddie, and all the other parents had left. Hell, he still half expected it, but as the minutes ticked by he found himself thinking more and more about how ridiculous it was to assume that Vlad would just show up after two years without so much as a peep and how stupid he was for letting the thought make him anxious.

A knock came at his doorframe and he turned to see Tucker standing there, a plate of mini burger sliders in his hand. “Hey man I cooked up some dinner,” he said in the all too loud room. With nothing on the walls to cushion their voices it sounded like an echo chamber. “There’s vegan burgers in the kitchen, but I didn’t think you’d want those.”

Danny smiled, reaching out to take a slider, his stomach had been growling since he had smelled them cooking from the kitchen. Leave it up to Tucker to think of food first thing when moving in and to consider that his friends would be too tired to cook. Danny was all for ordering pizza but there was something about a home cooked meal that made the apartment feel less foreign. "Thanks Tuck," He said and from the tone of his voice Tuck knew that he was saying thank you for more than the burgers.

"Sure thing, can’t unpack if you're hungry." He sat down on Danny's unmade bed and began to eat, he looked around at the mess of unpacked things, gaze landing on the pamphlet they’d gotten at orientation. He picked it up as Danny put his burger down on one of the boxes, something Sam would have said was gross.

Danny began to open a few bags up, pulling out a set of hangers and some clothes, setting them away in the room's closet. One by one he hung up his shirts, pants, hoodies, and a few other accessories, the process almost soothing in how methodical it was. Yet, his concentration was broken a little while later by Tucker speaking up, the lilt of his voice sending shivers of fear and not quite anticipation up his spine.

"Well, well, well, little badger, I see you chose my alma matter, just be warned I haunt the gymnasium bathroom stalls"

Danny hadn’t heard Vlad's voice in years and yeah Tucker was shit at impressions, but just the thought of it, just the idea of him actually saying that to him, of saying anything really, twisted his stomach into a knot.

"Dude stop that's weird," he said as he turned around, hoping his face wasn’t quite as red as it felt. He grabbed the college brochure from Tucker's hands where he’d been snickering at the word ' _Badger!_ '.

"Think he'll show up?"

"Think who will show up?" Sam asked coming through the door, already halfway done with her vegan burger.

"Vlad." Tucker said, grinning as Danny shoved the pamphlet in the trash. "Danny's been thinking about it all day."

"Have not!"

Sam laughed, "We know you better than that Danny, you've been on edge since this morning expecting him to attack, but it’s okay to let yourself relax. If we were going to hear from him we already would have."

She was probably right about that. Vlad knew he was going to school at UW-Madison. It wasn’t as if he thought Vlad had missed the letter his parents had sent, he just hadn’t answered, just like he hadn’t answered any of their calls. If Vlad had wanted to say something he would have.

But he hadn’t. Not once. Two years of radio silence come and gone. There'd been no schemes, no random ghost attacks, hell, Vlad hadn’t even been in the news for committing some lame crime like tax evasion or investing in the stock market illegally. For all Danny knew he was a law abiding citizen.

Okay, he knew Vlad wasn’t a law abiding citizen, but he was good at pretending to be one.

"Still...this is his haunt he could pop out of nowhere." Tucker teased, waving his fingers around to be 'spooky'.

"Tucker you aren’t helping." Sam scolded, making Danny smile, he might have been worried, but at least he knew they'd always be by his side to tease him with awful puns and reassure him that everything would be okay.

They spent the evening like that, talking, laughing, unpacking, and staying up far later than they probably should have considering how tired they were from the trip. Eventually though they did wind down, everyone saying goodnight to one another before collapsing into their barely made beds and settling off to sleep.

At least, that’s what Sam and Tucker did.

Danny on the other hand pulled out his phone and connected his earbuds, doing something that he’d been tempted to do a few times in the past, but hadn’t been able to bring himself to. Yet here, so close to Vlad's old haunt as Tucker had called it, it felt deeply cathartic.

Vlad had not given any verbal recorded interviews with the press since he'd left Amity, instead he’d become a behind the scenes businessman, but that didn’t mean there weren’t plenty of old television interviews with him.

Danny closed his eyes and for the first time in two years heard Vlad’s voice coming through the speakers beside his ears, the man talking about how important running for mayor of Amity was for him and for a moment there in the dark he could remember how exhilarating it had sometimes felt to fight someone who matched his power.

* * *

College was stressful — understatement, college made Danny want to pull his hair out. After a week he had collapsed into a chair outside the campus’ Chipotle rip off and just taken a few minutes to feel his left eye twitch because so much seemed to be happening all at once in his classes and Sam and Tucker wanted to go to events and explore the town and the campus was so much bigger than his high school and there were so many people.

It was all a good bit overwhelming.

There was a learning curve to everything. He had to learn to balance his classes and his homework and the stupid math program his intro to algebra professor had her students use. He had to learn his way around campus, around town, around a brand new grocery store which he hadn’t thought could be stressful but there he was getting frustrated because he had to walk all the way across the store to grab a jar of peanut butter.

The only good thing was there weren’t any ghosts, although that did concern Danny a bit. Most places had ghosts. Places where people congregated or viewed as important tended to have them. People died and were still attached to places but this college, this town, had no attachments, no leftover remnants. No ghosts.

Danny remembered when Tucker had referred to the college as Vlad's old haunt and he wondered if Vlad had chased them all away.

He remembered how quiet Amity was any more. No more ghosts.

* * *

The phone rang a little over a month into the semester, Danny picking it up tiredly as he reached to paw at his bedside table and check the time as he answered. 9:00 am? Who in their right mind called a-oh, Danny read the name as the line picked up and his dad's voice bellowed through the speakers.

"Danno!"

"Mm," Danny rubbed the sleep from his eyes, "Hey dad."

"Me and your mom just wanted to let you know we'll be over this weekend!"

That had Danny shrugging off his comforter to sit up, trying to adjust to the soft blue light coming in his window, "What? Since when?"

"Well Jazz has some free time and it's V-Man's birthday. We thought we'd grab you and celebrate!"

Vlad’s birthday?

"Wait, dad does he know about this?"

"No, but Vladdie has never turned down a surprise party!"

Danny could see a couple dozen things wrong about that sentence, but he knew there was little point in telling his dad this. Still...

"We're just going to show up on his door?"

"Where else?"

Right. Yeah that made sense. There wasn’t going to be any talking his dad out of it. He had already wanted to show up unannounced at Vlad's doorstep when Danny had moved into the apartment so this was probably as long as his mother was going to be able to convince him to put it off.

"Yeah, sure I’m good this weekend." He lied because the truth was spending any time near Vlad made him guaranteed to be as far from good as possible. He lifted his hand and traced his fingers over Vlad's mark. Hopefully it wouldn’t get any longer. Hopefully Vlad wouldn’t even be there, he’d be on some business trip or something else as equally pretentious.

"Great! We'll be by around five on Saturday!"

The phone hung up a few minutes later after Danny and his dad said a ton of unnecessary goodbyes and although he may not have admitted it they made him smile. He wasn’t looking forward to seeing Vlad, but he was a bit homesick and seeing his mom, dad, and Jazz might be good for him.

He got out of bed, stretched and changed into his running gear to take a lap around the campus. He was already up, might as well make some good use of the beautiful day outside.

* * *

Sam and Tucker had insisted on coming to Vlad's impromptu birthday the moment Danny had told them about it and he hadn’t expected any less. They weren’t about to leave him to see his arch nemesis for the first time in years alone. What kind of best friends would they be if they didn’t come? For all they knew Vlad would be tempted to start a fight.

With that mindset the trio stood outside their apartment complex waiting for the RV to arrive. They didn’t have to wait around too long, Danny's dad on time for once due to how excited he was to be seeing Vlad who, for all Danny knew, still didn’t know about this little get together.

Danny's mom waved at him as the RV pulled up and the side door opened to reveal not only Jazz, but Valarie and Danielle as well.

Well...wasn’t this going to be an interesting evening.

"Hey guys..." Danny said looking incredulously at Valarie and Danielle to silently ask why they were there too as he, Sam, and Tucker climbed in.

Jazz hugged him, smiling before reaching out to grab Valarie's hand, it was then that Danny noticed a new and rather long soul bond line across Jazz's neck and Jazz's own mark around Valarie's throat.

"Oh!" He certainly hadn’t expected that, but at least it explained why Valarie had come along, couldn't let her girlfriend go to her ex employer/ enemy's house unguarded. Danny wondered how many ecto-weapons she had on her.

Jazz laughed at his awkwardness, the RV door closing behind them as they took off. "You know how Valarie goes to the same college as me Danny?" She asked and Danny nodded because of course he knew. Jazz and Valarie had moved in for their semesters on the same day and he’d been stuck lugging around both their belongings, "Well, as it turns out we're in the same psychology club too and we've really hit it off."

"We were going to tell you soon, it’s just still very new is all." Valarie said and Danny tilted his head to look pointedly at how far their bond line had already grown. Oh yeah they had really hit it off alright.

Jazz punched him in the arm, "Don’t go staring Danny, that's rude."

"So Danielle," Sam cut in, "What brings you?"

"Oh you know, just wanted to catch up with Val and you guys," she said loud enough for Jack and Maddie to hear before dropping her voice a bit, "I want to see if Vlad's actually there, he sends a monthly check to the Greys for watching me but he never puts his address on them.

"He pays child support?" Tucker asked incredulously, barely holding back a laugh just in case Danny's parents asked them what was funny.

"Essentially, but that’s it. Sure I don’t like the guy, but it’s always just the money never a letter to ask how things are or anything."

"Still that’s more contact than any of us have had," Jazz hummed, glancing over at her Dad, "He tries to call at least once a week, I don’t think it’s healthy for him."

"Have you heard anything, Danny?" Danielle asked, "He was always most interested in pestering you."

Danny shook his head. His friends were still under the assumption that he didn’t know why Vlad had left and he preferred to keep it that way. “I thought he’d pop in when we moved into the apartment, but we haven’t seen him.”

“Let’s hope it stays that way,” Valarie grumbled, all of them wholeheartedly agreeing.

* * *

Unfortunately the door to Vlad’s home opened to them when they arrived at his home.

Danny’s dad had knocked several times, had stepped back into the RV to lay on the horn and just when Danny had started to think he was going to get away from the evening the main door opened.

There Vlad stood as sharply dressed and as annoyed looking as ever, glaring down at them from the top of the stairs. His hair was a bit longer, but otherwise he hadn’t changed, not one bit.

His voice was cold when he spoke, “Well isn’t this a—“

“Surprise!” Jack cut in, taking the stairs two by two before picking Vlad up and Danny knew the man could have sidestepped, but he hadn’t. Although, that could have easily been because he knew Jack well enough to know that if he dodged one hug Jack would just keep hounding him until he got what he wanted. “This is your surprise birthday party V-Man!”

“In my experience,” Vlad said as he was put down, smoothing out his clothes in the same manner Danny could remember him doing back Amity, “The person whose birthday it is does not typically host the event and considering this is my house and you’ll no doubt be expecting food I could hardly call it a proper surprise party.”

Jack wrapped his arm around Vlad’s shoulders, practically dragging him back into the mansion, “Just as much of a joker as ever I see!” He grinned as the rest of them warily followed behind.

“You could have had more options if you’d bothered at all to call from time to time,” Danny’s mom grumbled as the door closed, “But we did bring a cake.”

"Oh Maddie, darling, I didn’t know you cared so much." Vlad's biting tone made Danny want to snatch the cake from his mom’s hands and smash it all over Vlad’s stupid face and three piece suit. Judging from the look on his mom's face she was barely holding back from doing the same.

Vlad led them into the dining room, not speaking or so much as looking at Danny, an action that made the younger halfa's blood boil for a reason he didn’t have the time or will to unravel.

"Pizza?" Vlad asked the room and only Jack nodded, grabbing a house phone on the wall. Danny would have wondered who kept landlines in the dining room, but then he remembered that they were in Vlad's ridiculous dairy king castle and such questions were pointless.

Vlad sighed as Jack went ahead and ordered for everyone, though at least the man had remembered his favorite order from their college days. He sat down at the head of the table, trying to think of what to talk about, now that the Fentons were here in his home it would be next to impossible to make them leave. He had expected this sort of thing to happen eventually knowing Jack, especially after he’d received the letter about where Daniel was going to college, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was prepared for it. He’d mostly just tried to put the Fentons out of his mind, but that method of thought had been about as useful as ever, that’s to say, not useful at all.

Now he was being saddled with what was sure to be an excruciatingly awkward evening with his ex best friends, his nemesis and his soon to be bond mates, his ex employee, his cloned daughter, oh and Jazz. Jazz wasn’t a big fan of him, never had been, but out of everyone at this supposed party she was perhaps the one most likely to be somewhat civil.

Jack got off the phone and wrapped his arm back around Vlad, looking at everyone as if he didn’t notice the thick tension in the room, "How about we liven up this shindig Vladdie!"

Calling it a shindig was quite the stretch, but even Vlad had to admit he wasn’t going to be able to hand the stifling atmosphere for very long. "And just what would you have in mind, Jack?"

"Well," Jack clapped his hands hard on Vlad's shoulders, making him grimace. "I wouldn’t say no to breaking into that wine cellar of yours, it’s too late to drive back to Amity you know."

"Oh so you're also crashing at my house?" Vlad asked as he stood and everyone held their breath, the silence in the room deafening as a single question passed through everyone but perhaps Jack.

Was this where Vlad kicked them out?

But instead of demanding they leave until it finally got through Jack's head that he wasn’t in the mood, Vlad sighed and straightened his necktie, "Well Jack lead the way I know you know where the cellar is."

Maybe he'd said it because he had been feeling rather melancholy sitting alone in his huge mansion on his birthday. Maybe he’d said it because despite how he always felt maddeningly nostalgic when he visited the Fentons he had found himself wanting to pop in for a football game or two. Maybe it was because they were the only people beside his obligated business partners that had wished him a happy birthday.

Vlad looked back at everyone as he followed Jack from the room, "I've got a few party games for the occasional business party in the living room across hall and pizza will be here soon, make yourselves at home."

* * *

  
What followed was nothing short of a miracle, once the ice had been broken and Vlad had poured drinks for everyone who was old enough the party had started to feel almost normal. They’d cracked open a few sodas, pulled out some snacks Vlad had around, brought the pizza in and began a competitive game of charades which Vlad's team with Maddie and Jack had won handily.

As the night progressed everyone loosened up a bit. Jazz, newly twenty one and a bit inexperienced with alcohol was the first to get a smidge wine drunk, growing steadily more competitive as the games continued, something that sparked their parent's and Vlad's own heated natures.

The game moved from charades to monopoly as Danielle found a board and before they knew it they were all arguing over the rules and trading properties. Maddie was quick to beat them, showing no mercy when it came to bankrupting them and flaunting the payments she had everyone fork over for landing on her properties.

Someone had turned on some music and Danny suspected it had been Valarie because Vlad absolutely did not listen to Dumpty Humpty.

The cake was brought out and surprisingly everyone sang, even Vlad despite the fact that it was his birthday. In his defense though they had gone through a good amount of wine. Everyone ate and Valarie, Jazz, and Dani danced to the music while Danny, Sam, and Tucker played headbands and drank way too much soda.

Vlad pulled out some recordings of old football games from when he, Jack, and Maddie had been in college together and they all screamed at the t.v as if the people from the past could hear them now, hear them here in a room where things were almost normal.

* * *

An hour or so later Vlad found himself an opening to slip away and get some air on a nearby balcony, wine glass still held in his hand as he leaned over the railing.

Despite everything the evening had gone fairly well. It almost made him wish for more of them. Maybe he could call Jack and Maddie from time to time. Daniel was in college now so it wasn’t like he’d be around if he decided to visit and it looked like he would complete his bond lines soon so that problem would be disappearing. It was bittersweet, but the party had made him miss Amity.

Perhaps holing up on his own hadn’t been the best idea, even if it had mostly solved the problem of bonding with Daniel. He couldn’t imagine Daniel's bonds with Sam and Tucker would take much more than a year to complete. Maybe once they did Jack would invite him over to celebrate.

He hummed at the thought, maybe it was just because he was buzzed, but he rather liked the sound of that.

"Hey Vlad..."

Vlad straightened, eyes opening and he couldn’t quite reminder closing them. The glass door behind him closed quietly as Daniel walked out onto the balcony, night wind brushing through his hair.

"Little badger, you know we shouldn’t be near one another." Vlad said, tongue a bit heavy in his mouth from the alcohol.

"I know I just...I have a question."

Vlad didn’t answer, letting the statement hang thick in the air for a long while before rolling his hand impatiently, "Well are you ever going to ask?"

"Oh!" Danny rubbed the back of his neck before stepping closer to Vlad, looking out over the balcony to the Masters estate. He had been thinking about this question for a long time, but back in Amity he and Vlad had never been on good enough terms for him to ask. Then their marks had been revealed and Vlad had left, leaving Danny with all the questions he’d held back through the years, "Well...I mean it’s your birthday and you’re obviously not any older, but I've grown so, when am I going to you know, stop aging?"

Vlad peered at Danny from the corner of his eye. Daniel was in fact older. He had gotten taller, as tall as him now, and there was some stubble on his chin. He had let his hair grow out, his typical messy bangs finally able to be pulled back into a pony tail. He had filled out too, no longer the string bean teen Vlad had known for those few years in Amity. "I stopped aging about ten years after my death. My guess is you'll get stuck at twenty four, maybe twenty five-ish."

Danny tried to picture it, being twenty four forever, stuck as his friends kept aging. He wasn’t even going to be able to pretend at being older for as long as Vlad had been able to.

"Think of it this way, you'll legally be old enough to drink, but you'll always be carded."

"Oh yes because that’s definitely what I’m most concerned about," Danny scoffed, wishing that it was true that his biggest worry was how annoying it might be to be forever carded at grocery store checkout lines and bars.

The pair of halfas fell silent again, Danny's hands curling to fists on the balcony rail and as Vlad stole another glance at him he saw a look in his eyes that was painfully familiar, "What are you most concerned about, little badger?" He asked, almost too quiet to hear, as if worried that if he spoke any louder he might scare Daniel away.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted that or not.

Danny scowled, "What do you care?"

"Fair enough." Vlad admitted with a small shrug, taking another sip of his drink, expecting Daniel to turn around and head back in. Danielle and Valarie had picked up a song about a minute ago and were now singing rather loudly, their voices spilling from the mansion alongside the golden glow of the lights that seeped through the windows to suspend the balcony in the odd air they had found one another in. But Daniel didn’t turn around. Instead he stayed and Vlad watched as his shoulders dropped, letting go of a tension he hadn’t noticed the younger was carrying.

"Sorry." Danny started, looking down to his hands to fiddle with his nails, "It’s just, you never cared back in Amity and you certainly haven’t these years you've been gone so I guess I just don’t understand why you'd bother to ask."

"I know the look, is all." Vlad explained, thinking back to all the times he’d found himself feeling as forlorn and confused as Daniel seemed to be. "And considering the question it’s easy enough to guess this hasn’t been the first time you’ve thought about it, outliving everyone."

Finally Danny looked over at him, more worry and fear in his eyes than Vlad had ever seen in them, even while on the battlefield. "I don’t know if I can take it."

The statement nearly stole Danny's composure to admit, the syllables pushing from him strained with the effort to cling to the barest hints of strength.

Vlad felt his chest tighten, wanting in that moment to do something he hadn’t done in a very long time. Reach out.

But he didn’t.

Couldn’t.

They both knew that they were already pushing things.

"Sam thinks I should see a therapist, but what am I supposed to say?"

Vlad hummed, resisting the urge to laugh morbidly at their situations, "I’ve experienced a similar predicament."

"How do you do it?"

"I don’t." Vlad said simply, ignoring Daniel's confused look for a moment to take a sip of his drink. "The truth is I have looked for ways to either continue aging or die outright, lose my mental facilities and simply cease existing."

A concerned expression settled on Danny's face as he took in the ramifications of that statement. Vlad had tried dying, had sought it out. His arms crossed over his chest, pulling in tight as he tried not to imagine the man’s attempts.

Vlad turned away from him, hating Daniel's expression, the concern and pity and pity of others something he’d never quite taken a liking to. Daniel didn’t wear them well anyway, "Despite what it may look like in the movies, immortality has never felt to me like a blessing. You asked me how I deal with it. I don’t."

One may have ventured off on a limb and referred to some of their previous silences as easy, but the one that followed now was anything but. Danny turned to look back over the estate, hand lifting to trace Sam and Tucker's marks, the sound of his choked breath feeling far too loud in the dark and as Vlad glanced over, startled at the sound, his eyes widened.

The light from inside illuminated just enough of Daniel's face for Vlad to realize with mounting horror that tears were welling up in the younger’s eyes.

"What am I supposed to do about them?" Danny asked, "I used to think it was good that Sam and Tuck were my potential soulmates, after all they know about my powers so I wouldn’t have to explain it to them and they've always had my back, but lately I can’t stop this feeling that maybe...maybe it’s not such a good thing..."

He didn’t know if he was strong enough to loose two soulmates. He didn’t know if he’d be able to bear it or if watching them grow old and die would turn him into the monster he’d been running from for years.

"Wait here." Vlad said, voice suddenly stern as he turned around to head back inside, leaving Danny alone with his thoughts.

"Stupid..." he mumbled to himself as he was left outside, wiping at his face like the idiot he was. What was he doing? They had showed up on Vlad's doorstep out of nowhere after two years and suddenly he was asking the man for advice about being a halfa? Asking for advice he had refused, and with good reason, during his high school years. Sure it looked as if Vlad had mellowed out a tiny bit in his absence but that didn’t mean the older halfa was to be trusted. Not to mention he’d started crying which was beyond embarrassing.

Danny focused himself, pulling in a breath. What was he thinking showing weakness in front of his arch enemy? For all he knew Vlad was going to come outside with some weapon he’d been working. He reached inward to his core, letting his mind center itself around it, around the familiar tug of his powers. If they were going to fight he was going to be ready, he wasn’t going to let Vlad catch him off guard. He didn’t shift yet, knowing it would trigger an argument quicker, but he made sure to keep himself right at the moment before going ghost, waiting and alert at the precipice.

Vlad returned a minute or so later and as Danny predicted he was carrying something, however, it didn’t seem to be a weapon, instead it was a leather bound binder and as Vlad sat it down on the stone balcony railing Danny saw that it was a photo album.

What was Vlad doing?

Vlad didn’t say anything as he opened it up, Danny's eyes landing on the pictures that were tucked neatly into their little plastic sleeves.

His parents and Vlad.

They were about the same age as he, Sam, and Tucker were and they looked just as happy. Danny took the album carefully, sliding it closer to himself and Vlad let him as he looked at the polaroids.

There was his dad in a small apartment, pulling a tray of fudge from the oven. There was his mom smiling in a selfie while Vlad and his dad screamed at a small tv in the background, decked out in Packers gear. There were dozens of pictures, pictures of them in sunglasses at an amusement park, up late studying, drunk pictures of Vlad passed out while Jack drew on his face with permanent marker. There were pictures of them dancing at clubs, half asleep in the library, working in their lab.

As Danny turned the pages he began to notice something, the soul bond lines on their necks were beginning to appear longer and longer. He easily recognized his mom’s line across his dad’s throat, and his own across her’s. Yet what surprised him was the familiar line settled right at the top of both Jack and Maddie’s necks, Vlad’s soul line displayed prominently and just as long as the lines his parents had had for one another.

“You guys were almost a trio...”

Why hadn’t his parents ever told him that?

“That we were.”

Danny looked up from the album, “I thought you just liked my mom...”

Vlad shrugged and tilted his head to look back into the living room where Jack had started singing a song from their college years very loudly, no doubt in an attempt to prove to Valarie and Danielle that ‘he still had it’, “Jack has his moments.... although if you ever tell anyone I said that I will skin you and personally hand your hide over to Skulker.”

This managed to bring a small laugh from Danny, something he was surprised by considering it was his arch nemesis who had brought it out. "Why are you showing me this?" He asked a short while later as he returned to flipping through the album's pages.

"Because I am not sure what to tell you," Vlad began, leaning over the railing and closing his eyes. Danny realized he’d never seen the man with his guard so lowered, "I don't know how to answer your question about what you should or should not do when it comes to your immortality. All I know is that loosing people is not enjoyable, whether on your own terms or not. Unfortunately it seems to be something we are doomed to, but what you do from here is something best left to your own decisions."

Weigh his options then. Danny nodded. That was probably for the best.

Vlad was right, which was a weird thought. He was going to lose Sam and Tucker eventually, but unlike Vlad he had the power to do it on his own terms. He didn’t exactly feel better about the situation, in some ways he felt noticeably worse, but at least he had voiced his concerns and in some ways that was helpful enough.

"I’m going to head back inside," he said, closing the album gently before scooting it across the stone. "And...um, happy birthday, Vlad."

Vlad nodded, a stunned expression that Danny also laughed at gracing his face.

He walked back towards the party, hand pausing in front of the handle as he looked at his friends and family inside. The pizza was nearly gone and the cake wasn’t much better. The bottles of wine Vlad had brought out were being polished off and party games lay strewn across the room in a haphazard mess. If they had noticed his absence then they hadn’t paid much mind to it, laughing, singing and falling over each other as they had been for the duration of his talk with Vlad.

Danny had his answer and he had his decision

* * *

Five months later Daniel Fenton was officially declared dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact! Jazz and Valarie are girlfriends because I say so!
> 
> Also, I hope y’all liked the cliffhanger >:3c
> 
> Also, also, imma be honest this chap was hard for me to write, but I really needed to just get the set up for part 2 out of the way, so sorry if it’s a bit short and uneventful. 
> 
> Kudos/comments much appreciated uwu


	5. The boy in the box

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is it still a lie if you’re going through all the motions?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that I’ve pulled the rugs out from under you the proper plot can begin! Welcome fully to part 2!
> 
> Important note - words with a * mean I’m being a nerd about it in the end notes lol
> 
> Also important note - happy Halloween everyone uwu

* * *

  
  
Four months after the party

* * *

Vlad got the call around 4:36 pm and despite how remiss he’d been to pick up a call from the Fenton household in the years he’d been away from Amity, he had been doing so more and more often since his birthday.

He hadn’t gone so far as to join the family for the holidays, but he’d sent out letters and few gifts, deciding that if he did want to eventually step back into his friend's lives once Daniel's soul bonds were complete it was best to go slow and steady.

"Vlad?" Maddie's voice came over the speaker, a welcome change from Jack's booming one.

Vlad leaned back in his office chair, propping his legs up on his desk, "Maddie, darling, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Have you seen Danny recently?"

Vlad's eyebrows raised, taken aback by the question and Maddie's tone, "No, why?"

"Sam and Tucker haven’t seen him since yesterday and we can’t seem to get him to pick up his phone."

"Maddie, dear, it’s probably nothing to worry about. He's a young man fairly new to college, he probably went to a party and slept in due to a hangover." He reassured, knowing that that likely wasn’t the case, but he didn’t want to alarm her. She took a second to mull the words over, Vlad offering up some more reassurance as she did, "I'm sure he'll show back up by this evening, a quick twenty four hours off the grid is nothing for a college student, you remember the trouble the three of us used to get into."

"I suppose you're right...I just, you know how he’s terrified of ghosts and there were a few on campus when we were there. I wish I would have sent him back after Christmas break with a few more weapons."

"I’m positive everything’s alright Maddie, he can fight off a few ghosts, he learned from the best after all."

"Alright, I’ll let you know when he shows back up. Thank you, Vlad."

"Please do Maddie and you're more than welcome." Vlad said and Maddie hung up the phone. He straightened in his seat, taking his feet from the desk and dialing Samantha. He wasn’t technically supposed to have her number, but he did. It wasn’t as if he’d thrown away all his tendencies for snooping around when he left Amity.

The line picked up, "For the last time, no I do not have a problem with my computer now would you f-“

"Ms. Manson I am not a hacker looking to steal your bank information." Vlad hummed, although he was glad she had picked up even if it was to tell some spam caller off.

"V-Vlad?"

"Present."

"Vlad if you took Danny I swear I will figure out a way to permanently kill you."

Vlad laughed at the implication, it had been quite some time since he’d held someone hostage, "Quite the contrary, I’m actually following up on a call I just received. Maddie tells me Daniel has been missing for almost a day now?"

Some but not all of the malice slipped from Samantha's voice, "Yeah, he has, and we know it’s not a ghost, there aren’t really any here."

"Still?" Vlad asked, surprised by the information.

"What do you mean, still?"

Vlad hummed a bit, "The first little while after I came into my powers was a bit rough, I was rather territorial, let’s leave it at that."

"And just when I’d almost forgotten you were a homicidal maniac." Samantha said sarcastically before moving on, "Normally we wouldn’t be too worried this soon, but Danny has been acting a bit weird lately."

Now that definitely caught his attention, "How so?"

Samantha sighed, seeming to weigh her options on whether or not she should tell him, "He's been pretty distant since we got back from winter break. He’s not been eating much and he was already starting to fall behind in his school work even though the semester just started. He’s been sleeping a lot too and...well, the last time we talked about our bond lines finishing soon he sort of shut down and ended up wandering the campus at night for a few hours. Me and Tucker tried to ask him about it, but he just said he was a bit stressed."

Vlad took in all the information, recalling how worried about completing his bond lines with his friends he had been. Worried enough to come to him for advice, something that had never happened while he lived in Amity, "Give me a call if you see him again, won’t you?" He asked, wondering if perhaps the stress of being immortal was becoming too much for Daniel. Vlad had gone through a similar period of time in his life and it had been far from pleasant.

"Sure...yeah, sure, fine Vlad." Samantha said after a rather pregnant pause, sounding both shocked and somewhat annoyed at the request.

The phone went dead not a second later and Vlad shifted through his contacts, pressing call as he pulled Daniel's name up.

It rang, over and over again until the voicemail box picked up, _"You've reached Danny Fenton, sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!"_ The phone beeped harshly as Daniel's voice cut off.

"Daniel I recommend you return to your apartment soon, your parents and friends seem rather worried about you."

* * *

Another day passed, and then a week, and then another, and nothing.

After a week Maddie and Jack had made official reports to police and Samantha, Tucker, and Jasmine had been interviewed. Upon not finding any leads in the initial round of questioning Vlad had been brought in, answering almost all of the questions truthfully, however when they asked if he had any ideas as to why Daniel might have left of his own accord he had said he only knew what Ms. Manson had told him, that Daniel had been acting distant and not eating.

Two weeks after Daniel's disappearance Vlad confided in Samantha and Tucker his last conversation with the younger halfa.

He had returned to UW-Madison to see if he could sense Daniel or any other ghosts in the area and upon coming up empty handed he had gone to the teen's apartment.

It was then that he told Daniel’s friends of how he had asked him when he was going to stop aging. Vlad told them the truth, that he had told Daniel he would likely stop aging around twenty four years old and that the idea of watching Sam and Tucker age without him had upset the other halfa. He admitted that he suspected that what he had told him about the pain of losing people might have influenced him.

"You chased him off!" Samantha accused, her temper far shorter than normal and Vlad believed it had something to do with the dark circles under her eyes, "You scared him, made him too worried about losing us so he...so he left!"

Vlad couldn’t disagree with her, he suspected as much himself.

Tucker wrapped his arms around her, trying to calm her and he nodded to Vlad, "Maybe it would be best for you to leave, but could you do us a favor and check the Ghost Zone?"

"I had already intended to," he said curtly, teleporting away as to not to waste time.

The following week was grueling as Vlad scoured the Zone, although he was unsure as to why he was bothering to put in so much effort. Well, it wasn’t that he was unsure...it was just that he wasn’t sure of the extent of his reasonings.

He didn’t want Jack or Maddie to be upset for much longer and he was tired of being questioned...but at the same time the idea of Daniel just being gone was almost maddening. He had been alone for twenty years and now...well now he didn’t know but surely Daniel had to be somewhere.

He asked around the Ghost Zone, even recruiting Skulker to try and track Phantom like back in Amity, but everyone had come up empty handed.

At his wits end he had ventured into Clockwork's territory, figuring that the ghost of time would know Phantom's whereabouts but he hadn’t been given any concrete answers, simply that Daniel did not want to be found.

By now the Fenton’s were growing desperate, official search and rescue teams had been organized and it was hard to go a day without the local news mentioning the missing college student.

Vlad had spotted Jack and Maddie more than once searching the GZ themselves, decked out in gear as they piloted the Specter Speeder around the realm. Vlad wondered what they thought they might find.

A dead Daniel perhaps.

Rumors were starting to spread across the UW Madison campus that Daniel had in fact died, Sam and Tucker had mentioned as much when he stopped by to tell them that he hadn’t found anything.

He wasn’t sure what Jack or Maddie would do if they ran across Daniel’s ghost, the two parents had long suspected Phantom of harboring ill will towards their son and Plasmius himself was always careful to give them a wide berth when he saw them out searching.

* * *

  
Five months after the party

* * *

  
In the end it had been old fashion means that had located Daniel Fenton, search dogs digging their noses into the mud around Maple’s Bluff off Lake Mendota just over a month after the disappearance.

Encrusted in mid February ice it was a wonder they found the body at all and Vlad supposed they hadn’t been meant to until at least late spring, but an unusually warm stretch of days had given the dogs enough room to sniff him out.

His body torn and broken, blue and curled in on itself, the scene was quickly declared a homicide, agents standing around, hands pressed deep into their jackets to turn their little pocket warmers over and over in their cold fingers as they stared down at the dead boy.

Vlad got the call around 11:43 am.

“Vlad...”

The sound of Maddie’s voice was enough to tell him what she was about to say, but he let her speak anyway.

“They found a body...they think it’s...” Her voice cracked, unable to say the words and Vlad could hear her crying over the line as if she were right beside him in his office.

“I’ll be right over.” He said, voice steady and strong, yet despite how he knew Daniel couldn’t possibly be truly dead he felt a deep sinking in his stomach, a hollow, not quite there loss that sought to swallow him up, if only into the grief of his friends.

He had never heard Maddie like this. She was the strongest person he knew, but he could hear her breaking over the phone as he went down to get his car and drive out. He wanted to teleport over, but even now it was best to keep up his human appearances.

When he got to the door Jack didn’t hug him.

There was more questioning then, the police coming around, trying to comfort Jack and Maddie even as they searched for answers in a manner Vlad found too pressing... although, considering the circumstances under which they had found Daniel he supposed they felt the hounding was necessary.

Jasmine, Valarie, Danielle, Samantha, and Tucker all arrived within the day and they learned what had happened to Daniel’s body.

The police relayed to them the status of the investigation, that this finding was being considered a murder and a rather heinous one at that. They tried to sugar coat it for Jack and Maddie, but they had insisted upon knowing what had truly happened to their baby. It was a slow and painful conversation.

Daniel hadn’t gone easy. There had been a long struggle and Danny had died far from painlessly. The investigators were not currently sure how he had survived his wounds for as long as he did, but they knew the murder had been messy and horrifically violent.

Murders such as this one were typically listed as crimes of passion, involving high emotions and little planning. Daniel had been beaten for the most part, a majority of his wounds blunt force trauma, but a few of them were a bit difficult to classify. They seemed to be burns, deep charred areas criss crossing his flesh.

His killer had done nothing to disguise the body, leading them to further suspect that this had occurred spontaneously. Danny had had his wallet and phone on him and important body parts such as his teeth and fingerprints were still intact.

There were more questions after the revel, many, many more. In crimes of passion those closest to the victim were suspected as the nature of the attack made it clear the murderer had held a personal vendetta against Danny. However, the investigation wielded no results.

A man hunt issued.

It was all over the news, bright young college freshman brutally murdered and tossed at the edge of a half frozen lake, culprit nowhere to be found, no leads. Typically with the type of fight Daniel had put up against his attacker there would have been some DNA evidence to go on. Danny would have scratched his attacker and gotten skin cells under his nails, or bit them and gotten some blood in his mouth, or pulled out their hair… but no. All the DNA found on and around Daniel Fenton was his own.

In the wake of the murder the UW-Madison college campus had put in place a few more security measures, reminding students not to go out alone and to never let strangers into d-

Vlad clicked off the t.v., looking down at Jack with a sad expression, the man had been watching, glassy eyed for sometime, "It's time to go...you shouldn’t be watching that anyway."

Jack nodded, quiet, and stood. His black suit was wrinkled, but Vlad didn’t point it out. There wasn’t a reason to fuss over small things today.

Maddie was already at the door, looking lost in her black dress and smaller than Vlad had ever seen her seem. There were long dark circles under her eyes and a redness in them that told Vlad she was barely suppressing tears.

What was Daniel thinking?

It wasn’t the first time he’d had the thought and with the way things were going he was sure it wasn’t going to be the last. For all his previous desires to get revenge on Jack and Maddie for abandoning him when he’d needed them the most, seeing them now made it ever more clear to him than ever that that hadn’t been what he’d truly wanted. He couldn’t imagine putting them through pain like this. Seeing Maddie, rumpled around the edges, sleep deprived and distant, made him wonder how she would have looked had he managed to kill Jack.

How could Daniel have done this?

Had he seen the condition his family was in? Jack and Maddie strung out and wrecked, Samantha, Tucker, Jasmine, Danielle, and Valarie sick with worry.

Vlad had sat up on the FentonWorks roof the night before, talking out to the open air just hoping Daniel could hear him, asking him to come back because his friends didn’t deserve to think their son had been brutally murdered and left for dead at the edge of a lake, frozen, alone, and scared, to rot for a month.

Vlad was starting to think no one deserved that kind of sorrow.

He had hated being abandoned, but seeing his friends like this was worse.

Maddie had been going on for days about how she was going to hunt down Danny's murderer herself. She was tired of the police's incompetence. They had taken too long to find her son and now they couldn’t bring his murderer to justice, not that legal justice would ever give her the satisfaction she believed revenge would achieve.

The thing was, Vlad was intimately familiar with revenge, with the hunger of it, with the way it hollowed out a body, burned until they were a husk. Promised more than it could ever grant and demanded more than could ever be given.

He didn’t want to see Maddie like that...

He didn’t want to hear her push herself into a frenzy, promising to turn Daniel’s murderer into a ghost by her own hands and then break them down molecule by molecule.

He didn’t want to see the look in Jack's eyes as he tried to calm Maddie down, that strained desperation to stay calm despite wanting to share in Maddie's desires. He had told Vlad over and over how he wished he could have protected Daniel, how he was a failure of a father, how he couldn’t remember the last thing he had said to his son and it was killing him inside.

Didn’t Daniel know he was tearing them apart?

Was he close enough to see, to hear him as he spoke quietly to the night sky, asking him to come back?

Coming back would mean revealing his identity as a half ghost, but if Daniel had any doubts about his parents accepting him then their feelings surrounding his supposed death was more than evidence enough that they would take him back if they had the chance. Anything would be better than the pain they were experiencing.

Vlad contemplated reveling his own secret, there on the roof, looking out over a city he selfishly hadn’t visited in years. He wondered if he could offer them up the hope that Daniel would come back, but he knew that if Danny didn’t that would only cause them more pain, wondering why he stayed away and he didn’t want to make them feel guilty for what they had done to him, how they had killed him in their little college lab.

So many nights laying awake thinking of how he would relish their faces when he told them of their betrayal, of all the pain they’d put him through and he couldn’t do it, he couldn’t tell them.

There was no happiness in it now.

Maybe there never had been.

Vlad wished he’d treated the years with more care.

He’d calmed a bit in the time spent away, but Daniel’s disappearance was digging up some long packed away thoughts and as he dusted them off he couldn’t help but think how things might have been different.

He’d never really been good at making decisions... not the ones that mattered at least.

Vlad opened the door for Jack and Maddie as they made their ways outside, silent as they stepped into Vlad’s limo.

Jazz and Daniel’s friends were already there. Vlad sat down beside Danielle and for the first time in a very long time she didn’t scoot away from him. She looked tired and he suspected she had been scouring the Ghost Zone too, talking to her own allies. Part of him wished she’d come to him for help, a majority of him knew he didn’t deserve it.

The car pulled forward and the quiet precession made their way to Daniel Fenton’s funeral.

* * *

Vlad had never been to a funeral and he found it rather ironic how the first one he attended was a farce. He sat down for the viewing, at least for a little while as he gave Jack and Maddie the space to say their goodbyes, trying to block out the sound of them. The pain in their voices, in their tears, made him want to lift Daniel from his casket and shake him because if he hadn’t been around to see them before then he certainly could now.

He knew the boy in the box was a clone, and a well made one at that. Information the clone could take in, even in a ruined state, could be accessed by the original body. That was one of the difficulties of cloning, suddenly having more than one input source for each sense was a bit overwhelming.

Why hadn’t Daniel dropped this little play?

Danielle sat down beside him, fiddling with the little paper pamphlet that had Danny’s picture on it. “Have you found anything?” She managed to ask, pain constricting her throat.

“No.” He answered, eyes on the floor.

“I’ve seen you out looking, in the Ghost Zone...why?”

“I don’t like to see Jack and Maddie hurting,” he explained, deciding to bear the truth of his thoughts, a rarity, but lying was made difficult in the melancholy atmosphere. Leave it to Daniel to prompt them all into a little soul searching with a needlessly selfish, horrible act.

“Never seemed to stop you before,” Her words were biting, but he took them because she was right and because now really wasn’t the time to cause a scene.

"This time is different," he started, but then stopped, frowning for a long moment before voicing a thought he’d been carefully pulling from the back of his mind since he’d first seen the state of his friends, "No- I don’t think it's different and I think that’s the problem."

Danielle stopped looking at the paper to look directly at him instead and he could feel her eyes on him, but he didn’t look back at her, "What do you mean?"

He wasn’t a hundred percent sure of that himself, after all, he had had twenty years to tuck these thoughts, this pain, away and some of them didn’t want to come easy. Peering into his own wants and desires was like looking through muddy ice, trying to find the body underneath and what came up, whether forcefully or through a slower, natural thawing, was mangled and changed. "I don’t like see them like this, I didn’t know what I was asking for."

"That seems to be a constant in most things you do," Danielle grumbled and Vlad winced at the implication. It was true though, he hadn’t known what he was truly asking for when he had cloned her and he certainly hadn’t acted like he’d understood it once she become conscious.

He tried to change the subject, things were touchy enough without him being made to reflect of his pitiful paternal instincts, "We could search the Ghost Zone together, if you’d like."

"I’m used to doing it alone."

Vlad sighed, he deserved that.

"I’m going to have to do this one day, aren't I." Danielle said after a long pause, figuring she'd made at least a bit of her point.

"I hope not," Vlad said, "All your friends know what you are and I know too."

"But legally, I’ll have to drop off the grid."

"Most likely, yes, though I don't plan to indulge your death in so much pageantry."

"You don’t indulge my half life in much pageantry." Danielle said and Vlad was about to look at her and tell her now was certainly not the time to be discussing this and she’d already ground his nose in his shortcomings enough for one day, but as he did he caught the hint of a smile playing at the edge of her lips, mischief he hadn’t seen in anyone's expression since the news of Daniel's disappearance gracing her face, "Couldn’t let you be all gloom and doom today now could I?" She hummed and he wanted to ask why she bothered with poking fun at him, but she spoke again before he could, "Looks like it’s time to pay your respects."

His head snapped up, attention turning to where Jack and Maddie were walking away from the casket, holding one another and speaking in low, tearful tones. He supposed Danielle was right. He stood, straightening his tie before moving to the front of the room.

He could feel the eyes on him and for some unknown reason the casket felt further away than it truly was and his mouth felt unreasonably dry. Did his footsteps always sound so loud?

Vlad looked down.

The casket was a deep red mahogany, straight grains seeming to point towards Daniel’s paler than usual face.

Vlad realized he’d never gotten a good look at Daniel sleeping, not that he'd really wanted to, but it seemed odd that this was the closest he’d ever gotten and it hardly counted.

He could feel the small part of Daniel's energy lingering around the clone and he had to marvel at the control Daniel was expressing over his powers. He had kept this clone, steady and quiet for a month under the ice of Lake Mendota, and then for days on the examination tables and in the coroners office. He’d allowed himself to be embalmed, sewn together, painted, dressed, and placed against the soft cushions of his supposed final resting place.

He let them look at him.

"Daniel." Vlad spoke quietly because he knew Daniel could hear him. Even if he was strong enough to be far away from his clone Daniel would hear the input the body received, even during this oddest of abjections. *

"You are hurting everyone." The anger that seeped from him, from his pores, to the back of his throat like venom shocked even him. His arms pressed close to his side, fingers curling to press down into fists so tight his nails bit his skin, "Have you seen what you have done to Jack and Maddie? Have you heard them? How could you?"

His face was hot, his neck burned under his collar, his core flared.

"Your friends are worried sick, Danielle hasn’t slept in days, Jasmine is trying to help Jack and Maddie, but you broke them. How could you? How could you leave, how can you just abandon them?"

The words poured from him, heavy and laced with the fear of hospital nights, of being left by people he thought cared about him. Hadn’t Daniel cared about his parents? Hadn’t he cared about his potential bond mates Sam and Tucker? Didn’t he care about his sister and his friends?

How could he just leave?

How can you look someone in the eyes and tell then you care only to vanish into thin air the very next day?

"You’re selfish. You're immature. You're the most stuck up, dramatic, self centered, brat I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting and y-“

He rambled. He wanted to transform, he wanted to pick Daniel up and throttle him, throw him against the wall and beat him to a pulp. He wanted to yell and kick and scream and go through all the appropriate steps of a toddler throwing a good tantrum.

"Jack and Maddie don't deserve this," He bit out through nearly bared fangs, "Do you hear me? And when I see you again Daniel I swear to God I’ll make you wis-“

A hand was placed on his upper right forearm, burning cold with how hot his skin had become. He flinched, turning to look down at Jasmine who shook her head.

"Now isn’t the time," she whispered, promoting him to look behind him at everyone in the room, he’d drawn some eyes. Were they looking at him because he’d spoken too loudly, or because he was at the front of the room and visibly upset? "Trust me when I see him next I’m going to kick his ass too, but not here, okay?"

Vlad's gaze refocused to the body below him, to his thoughts of wanting, needing, to snatch him up by the suit he’d been placed in and shake him until he either disappeared or woke up.

He sighed, "You're right Jasmine," it wouldn’t do to go making a scene now. What would Jack and Maddie think of him if he did, it wasn’t as if they knew the full context of the situation. Vlad didn’t think Maddie would let him get away with manhandling the corpse of her murdered son.

Jasmine's hand slipped from his shoulder and he took that to be his sign to leave, walking away from the casket and to the back of the room. As he did he was once again interrupted, Jack's hand wrapping around his wrist. Vlad froze, stiffening up under the touch to glance down with wide, fearful eyes. Had he really been overheard as he’d suspected?

But...but Jack's expression wasn’t angry, it was soft, and warm, and sad, and Vlad didn’t think anyone had ever looked at him like that, looked at him as if he were a raw, messy, thing, human in every aspect, but stretched and wrinkled around the edges.

"He cared about you, you know." Jack said, quiet, but sure, and Vlad just stood there dumbfounded because, had he known? Had Daniel ever expressed something to his parents about him that made Jack think that or was that simply something Jack had concluded on his own without any real evidence?

Then again the man had always had an odd sort of knack for guessing the true depth of things when they mattered, even if he stumbled upon the conclusions.

"I'm sorry I..." Sorry he what? 'Sorry I don’t know what you mean'? 'Sorry you probably overheard me yell at your dead son like a mad man'? He wasn’t sure.

Jack squeezed his wrist, "We all process it differently," a small smile managed to break his saddened expression, "And you've always had a flair for the dramatic, Vlad."

Vlad tugged his hand away, shaking his head. He was not, he was not 'mourning' Daniel, he was alive! He wasn’t here, but he was alive and where did Jack get off calling him Vlad? He hadn’t done that in forever and as much as Vlad loathed the nicknames he’d take them over being psychoanalyzed. Speaking of which wasn’t that Jasmine's job!

Vlad opened his mouth to say something, only to promptly close it again, unsure of where even to start before practically stomping to the back of the room as he’d originally intended and pouring himself a cup of the funeral home’s disgustingly cheap coffee.

It was too hot as he lifted it to drink, but he let it burn him anyway, the sensation grounding as his tastebuds were seared. Besides, if his tongue was burnt then he couldn’t taste how bad the coffee truly was.

After a while longer it was time to leave for the cemetery and Daniel's committal ceremony where his coffin would be swallowed up by the earth.

What did Daniel think about all of this if he was watching?

As Vlad's limo drove them to Daniel's plot he wondered, as he had before, what people would have said at his funeral. Would Jack and Maddie have been there if he'd died and stayed that way all those years ago in the hospital?

He looked over at them. He did not honestly know the answer to that question. What would they have said if they had gone? How would they have looked at his body?

Maybe some things were better left to the imagination...

They arrived at the cemetery, stepping out into the cold February day where the sky seemed intent on pressing them into the ground along with Daniel. Vlad walked quietly over to the hearse, Jack and Maddie close behind. Typically the parents didn’t act as pallbearers, but they hadn’t trusted the funeral homes trained staff to carry their son alone and considering the circumstances surrounding his death, Vlad didn’t blame them. They already felt as if they hadn’t been there for Daniel enough..

They'd asked him to help carry the casket too and as his hand wrapped around front right handle he felt a sense of sadness that he’d not yet encountered settle over him. Sure he’d seen Daniel’s body, but holding the weight of it, almost like he had wanted to do earlier in the funeral home, brought a sense of finality to this entire play.

Daniel was serious about this.

Daniel was making them go through the full motions of it. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what he was doing, in fact it was quite the opposite. Daniel was saying to all of them, even those who knew he was alive, that this, that his life as far as they knew it, was over.

This was his goodbye. Being alive didn’t matter if he disappeared forever. The concept of out of sight out of mind was real and functional here at this false funeral because it wasn’t false at all.

They were placing Daniel's body into his grave, there was a gravestone, there was a picture of him with flowers on it, and chairs for them to sit in.

This was it.

They laid Daniel down and then Vlad moved to the provided podium, it was his job to speak first.

"I didn’t know Daniel for very long…"

* * *

The following weeks were difficult for everyone, even Daniel's friends. Samantha and Tucker had gone back to school and Jasmine and Valarie had done the same, going their separate ways to head back to their college campuses. Vlad had decided to move back to Amity, not finding any comfort in going back to his mansion and he offered for Danielle to come live with him. She had said no, but had become a fairly regular visitor as despite her words, she did decide to search the Ghost Zone with him from time to time.

It wasn’t going well, Danielle had managed to pull more information from Clockwork than Vlad had, being on better terms with him, but even that hadn’t proved very helpful.

Clockwork was repaying Daniel a favor and from the sounds of it it had been a big one. He told them Phantom did not want to be found, that he had his reasons and this was a path he had chosen. Danielle asked if it was a good path and Clockwork was adamant that that was a query that not only had yet to be seen, but which didn’t even bear asking.

Time wasn’t a straight line, it was rivers heading out in a watershed to sea to then be recycled up into the clouds and rain. No single decision, even large ones like those Daniel had made, could totally ensure a good path or a bad path, and even the question of good and bad was highly subjective.

Vlad hadn’t been in the mood for discussions about the nature of time and moral philosophies and despite her patience, neither had Danielle.

They’d ended the day more frustrated than they’d began.

That had been the first night she'd slept over, too tired and angry from the trip to bother flying to the Grey's.

After that it had happened a bit more regularly and Vlad had the odd realization that Danielle was slowly growing more accustomed to him. They hadn’t discussed any of his previous actions towards her or the two years spent away and for that he was thankful, although he knew that talk would have to occur eventually. For the time being though Danielle seemed content to hold him at a slight arms distance and not dig into things.

He was experiencing a rather similar situation with Jack and Maddie. Having been there for their time of grief, which was still ongoing and probably would stay ongoing for however long Daniel was missing.

It wasn’t like the college days, far, far from it, especially with Daniel's death fresh in their minds, but it was a bit better than before. Maddie in particular had warmed a good bit to him and they were both under the impression that he was going through a deep period of grieving of his own, but he wasn’t quite sure what they saw.

Daniel wasn’t dead, there wasn’t anything to mourn, if anything he was most concerned about them...

* * *

One month after Daniel’s 'death'.

* * *

February pressed fully into March and before they knew it everyone was meeting up again. It was spring break for Jasmine, Valarie, Samantha, Tucker, and Danielle and they had all found themselves in the Fenton household, lounging around the living room to avoid the barely begun spring rains.

Given how far north they were the rain was more of a sleet, almost a snow, but they were used to the dreary weather.

Vlad was down working in Jack and Maddie's lab, tinkering away at a new invention while the pair were out. Vlad had insisted they go somewhere, do something other than sitting around the house, letting their grief consume them, or down in the lab working until they passed out too tired to let their minds wander to Daniel.

He knew it had only been a month since Daniel had 'died', but working themselves nearly to death wasn’t a healthy coping mechanism and the fact that he, patron saint of unhealthy coping mechanisms, had been the one to point that out surprised even them.

Luckily Jasmine had backed him up and although they were an odd team they made for a rather effective one. Jack and Maddie had agreed to take the day to themselves while Vlad continued their latest project in the lab and Jasmine and the others did as they pleased upstairs.

Vlad pushed himself out from under the new half-built Specter Speeder, the roller wheels of the creeper * squeaking a bit across the concrete floor. They’d need some WD-40. Vlad hummed a bit as he got up, grabbing a rag from the floor to wipe the grease off his hands.

It was nice, all things considered, to be tinkering. He’d always enjoyed working with his hands despite what his pompous outward appearance may have implied. There was such a simple satisfaction to it, to look at something and think ‘I made this'. There was a pride in it.

Another Vlad handed him a drink he’d brought down from the kitchen. It was nice to have so many people know what he was, there could be several Vlads walking around the house and as long as Jack and Maddie were out no one batted an eye. Not to mention it made work go faster having the extra hands.

He opened the cap on the plastic bottle of water and downed half of it. "I'm going to take a short break, look for some lubricant I think."

"What do you suppose this thing is for," the second Vlad hummed, running his hand over the windshield Vlad had installed a few hours prior.

"Not sure," that went without saying really, his clone had asked because he himself was not sure, that's how shared minds worked. "Their other Speeder is in fine condition."

A third Vlad at the desk looked over a set of blueprints, "The outside hull is fairly similar, but the guts they're putting in have much better tracking capabilities, more storage too."

"They’re looking to hunt longer, more efficiently." The second said, taking a lap around the still hollow vehicle.

"Batteries bigger, engine too, and fuel tank." Vlad added with a frown, "They think Phantom did it, killed Daniel. They’ve nearly convinced themselves of it.”

"Seems so." Answered the third, "And with this they'll hunt him to the ends of the Zone to find him."

"What would they do if they found him?" The second clone asked.

"What would Daniel do?" Vlad asked in return.

"Should we really be helping them with this?" The third Vlad had a valid point. Was this something he really wanted them to sink time into? What if it led to more disasters?

"Talk them out of it? Or sabotage the vehicle?" The second offered, hands lifting at twin angles, palms out flat like a scale.

"Both." They all agreed at once, a decisive nod shared by the three of them going around the room until the clones disappeared and Vlad was left alone, turning to head up the stairs.

If he was going to keep working, this time with sabotage in mind, he really did need that WD-40, the squeaking wheels of the creeper was driving him mad with its high pitch squeal every time he moved or adjusted his weight while working onthe undercarriage of the Speeder.

In the kitchen he caught sight of Samantha, standing in front of the nearby hall's wall mirror. Vlad took a second to marvel at how it wasn’t shattered considering the general chaos in the home.

Sam tilted her head, hand lifting to trace Tucker's line, glancing over at the other boy who sat at the kitchen table fiddling with some new piece of technology Vlad couldn’t recognize due to the fact that it was currently in two dozen pieces. "I still sometimes wonder who Danny's third line was," she hummed offhandedly.

Tucker didn’t bother to look up from his work, twisting his small screwdriver around and around to work out a screw in another piece of his equipment, "Doesn't really matter now, since he doesn’t seem to want to come back."

Vlad had never heard bitterness in Tucker's voice, he found that it didn’t suit the younger man well, but this seemed to be the time for strange emotions. Again, leave it to Daniel to bring out different sides of them.

Samantha sighed softly and came over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder and rubbing, "He's going to come back Tuck, he’s just...he’s going through a rough time right now."

Tucker leaned into her touch and closed his eyes, but Vlad was still noticeably caught up on the thought Samantha had expressed not moments before. He tilted his head, "Didn't Daniel tell you?"

"Tell us what?" Sam asked before Tucker could, although Vlad could see the words half formed in his expression.

"About his third mark?" Hadn’t Daniel told them it was his? Why did they think he left Amity? Did they think he’d just got up and left for no reason? Why would he keep that from people he had, at least at one point, fully intended to bond to?

"What about it?" Tucker set down his tools, turning all of his focus to Vlad.

Guess he hadn’t...well, this was a bit awkward, although perhaps airing everything out was for the best. That didn’t make it any less uncomfortable though, Vlad scratched at the back of his neck, ironically not too far above where Daniel's mark still was.

Typically when someone died anyone without a completed soul mark of theirs would lose that mark, but since Daniel wasn’t dead he, Samantha, and Tucker, all shared the younger halfa's line. They had to be extra careful to hide it, if Jack and Maddie saw it, especially on Daniel's two best friends, it would raise a lot of questions. Namely, how is Danny not dead if we saw and buried his body?

That would take a long time to explain.

"Daniel's third soul bond was with me," there wasn’t really a reason to mince words with it.

An incredible amount of emotions cycled across both Sam and Tucker’s faces before they finally landed on stunned, lapsing into sputtering silences before gawking at him like two deer in front of a pair of headlights.

"You!?" Tucker finally managed as Vlad looked away, a nervous chuckle burning his throat.

"Me."

"But, but Danny had his line when he was born!" Sam pointed out, most likely out of panic because that fact only helped in illustrating his words.

"I am older than Daniel. I died before Daniel was born." Vlad said, swallowing hard as he bucked up the nerves to look at them properly. Why was he so nervous right now? They were just a bunch of college freshman, why did he...why did he care about what they thought? It wasn’t as if their opinions could even change anything.

"Sam...Danny's line got longer after he died in the portal." Tucker said, having fallen into an eerie calm after his first outburst, Vlad could see the wheels turning behind his eyes as he came to the realization Vlad himself had all those years ago.

"Our experiences, dying, but not, becoming halfas, that’s why our bond formed without us interacting positively. That natural connection was something the universe deemed more important than our mutual distaste for one another."

"And he knew?" Sam asked, Vlad nodding in quiet confirmation, "He knew and he didn’t tell us..."

"He was quite displeased with the information-"

"Obviously." Tucked chimed in, but Vlad ignored him to carry on.

"As was I, I told him not long after I discovered our bond and moved away because I worried that with as often as we fought one another we'd end up inadvertently connecting our bond." Vlad explained, deciding that since the bulk of what he was telling them was out of the way he could get to what he’d came into the kitchen for in the first place, opening up Jack and Maddie’s junk drawer to rummage through the contents. "If Daniel didn’t tell you the truth about why I left, then what did he say about it?" He asked after a moment, more than a bit curious.

"All he said was that he guessed you'd finally figured out all of your stupid schemes weren’t going to work." Samantha said. Vlad could hear the hints of betrayal in her voice.

He scoffed, "Some of them would have worked."

"Not likely," Samantha said and if Vlad hadn’t known better he almost would have called it a tease.

"I would have at least liked to have tried some of them, I had some interesting ideas," he grinned triumphantly as he found what he was looking for, pulling out the canister of lubricant.

"Don’t go joking around, you’re still on thin ice," Samantha advised and Vlad had to try very hard not to reply with, ' _Like Daniel’s body_ ' because it was perhaps too morbid and a bit too soon to be making jokes about it.

"I’m scheming right now, actually," he said instead, enjoying the rise it got out of the both of them, the way their shoulders squared and tightened, the way Samantha's jaw set, and the glares they both cast his way.

He grinned, glancing back to the door to the basement lab, "Jack and Maddie are making an updated version of the Speeder down there, meant to be better at tracking and exploring for much longer periods of time. It will hold more equipment, have more storage space for supplies, it will run fuel more efficiently. I suspect they are intent on finding Phantom who they have long believed to have a connection to Daniel and I’m not sure what they'd do if they were the ones to find him first." He looked back at them, crossing his arms over his chest to lean back against the kitchen counter, "It wouldn’t be pretty though, I know that much."

"You're going to stall their construction," Samantha said, waiting for his nod, "But why?"

Vlad shrugged, fully capturing why would take too long and he wasn’t in the mood to unravel his current thoughts about his friends, Daniel, himself, the nature of their species, and ghosts as a whole. "I am not sure why Daniel has done this, I don’t like how it has effected my friends, but I also don’t like the idea of them finding out about halfas at the moment, or worse, capturing and torturing Phantom only to find out he's their supposedly murdered son."

The guilt of that alone would be enough to drive anyone off the deep end and Jack and Maddie were in no place to be confronting such things.

"You called them your friends," Tucker pointed out, bringing Vlad's thoughts to a halt.

He stared at the floor for a long moment, he’d called them his friends in his head, had been for a little while now, and he’d said the words out loud while trying to talk to an imaginary Daniel on the FentonWorks roof, but he hadn’t said it around anyone else since college really, "I suppose I did..." he admitted before deciding he’d stood around for long enough.

The day was already mostly over and Jack and Maddie would be home soon enough, if he wanted to make any progress with setting the Speeder project back it was best to start now. He waved his hand over his shoulder as he opened the door to the basement, "I'll need your help messing this up, come on."

Vlad was about halfway down the stairs before he heard the two begin to follow, their footsteps trailing him down into the lab.

Daniel was gone and would be for who knew how long; although, it was clear that he intended for it to be forever or at least until his parents died. However, there was still work to be done. Vlad knew Jack and Maddie would keep looking for answers, wouldn’t rest until they either captured the ghost that had seemingly shown so much interest in their son, found Daniel’s ghost, or the police discovered Daniel’s murderer.

Two of those endings were an impossibility and the potential consequences of them finding Phantom when he didn’t want to be found were too risky and unpredictable.

Together the three of them stepped onto the lab floor, glancing at one another in silent agreement that Jack and Maddie could not be permitted to continue their search.

Odd times called for odd allies it would seem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Fun fact -
> 
> "Daniel." Vlad spoke quietly because he knew Daniel could hear him. Even if he was strong enough to be far away from his clone Daniel would hear the input the body received, even during this oddest of abjections. *
> 
> was my favorite paragraph from this chapter because of the last word, "Abjection". What is abjection? Abjection is a term coined by Bulgarian- French philosopher Julia Kristeva and it is meant to be the antonym to the Latin meaning of the word 'object'. So abject means literally, to push away, to reject, to throw from. In her theories Kristeva argues that we most abject ourselves, push away, forcefully remove, or bury, parts of ourselves. 
> 
> She focuses a good bit on mortality and how when we as humans come into contact with dead bodies our brains cannot 'object', take in, the concept of our own fragility. We cannot conceive the true meaning of death, so we reject it, abject it from ourselves through various means. Coming into contact with something, even within the self, that spurs abject thoughts and feelings, leads to disgust, rage, emotional anguish, depression, and denial. 
> 
> Vlad calls what Danny has done the oddest of abjections, because Danny has not abjected his own death, in fact he had made quite the show of embracing it. Yet, due to his immortality he has abjected a large part of his being. For Danny the object naturally becomes the abject, placing him both in a position of embracing the self, while simultaneously rejecting it. 
> 
> So that’s a little philosophy info dump, if you read it you're the real mvp, feel free to comment your favorite philosopher 
> 
> Also, Kristeva is actually not my favorite philosopher, I find her to at times be very convoluted. Although, I have been told this is because I cannot read French and the English translations of her work don’t do it justice and apparently she really likes to use puns which like, go off girl.
> 
> * Fun fact — the little roller carts that people sit on to work on the underside of cars are sometimes called creepers which you better believe that’s what the Fenton's roller cart is called because ghosts are —get this — creepy
> 
> Also fun fact, never bother to look up what WD-40 is made of it will only leave you with more questions than answers and apparently the WD part of the name stands for water displacement. Odd substance.
> 
> Any way! I hope you guys liked the chap! Kudos and comments much appreciated uwu
> 
> Sorry for no Danny this chap, boy needs his space but don’t worry  
> They can’t kiss if they never see each other again lol


	6. Run Rabbit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter where Vlad says the F word

* * *

Ten months after Daniel’s ‘death'

* * *

The sleet rains of March became the proper rains of April and the proper rains of April became the first touches of Spring, became Summer, became Fall, became winter.

Nearly a year had passed since they had said half meant goodbyes to Daniel and every day that came and went made those halfhearted parting words feel more real.

Samantha and Tucker had finished their freshman year of college, returned to Amity for the Summer, then gone back to UW-M for their sophomore fall semesters all without him.

Jasmine and Valarie did much the same, coming and going from Amity as dictated by their school schedules. Danielle began her senior year at Casper High.

It was all so mundane.

Normal.

Life was like that. Vlad had learned that truth a long time ago. Life moved on whether you were there to move with it or not and at the end of each day the world kept on turning.

Daniel's disappearance put a heavy weight on all of them, particularly upon Jack and Maddie, but that didn’t stop the calendar pages from flipping over

Christmas was on the horizon now and everyone had come back to Amity, welcoming one another into their arms, even as worry played at the back of their minds.

Thanksgiving had been a disaster.

The first holidays without a loved one were always the hardest.

They had held Thanksgiving at the Fenton house, all of them cramming into the kitchen and for a while Vlad had simply appreciated being included. It had been an odd thing to want, to want to sit in a busy, hot house with people he had used to consider enemies, or targets of revenge. But now, months after Daniel had left it felt almost natural. He wasn’t quite part of the group yet, but he wasn’t so displaced. No one really bothered to glare at him anymore. Somewhere throughout the months it seemed they’d all settled into begrudging acceptance.

Despite this, the holiday had been a mess. Daniel’s room was a black hole within the house, radiating energy far colder than Vlad could remember his core giving off as his ‘death’ hung over them. Jack and Maddie were growing more stressed at their failing efforts to explore the Ghost Zone by the day and the holiday brought it to a head.

Vlad and Jasmine had tried to mediate between them as they’d picked up argument after argument, but it did little to help. Their stress and their grief weighing on them far too much for them to keep from falling apart.

Jack had wanted desperately to make the holiday good, to have a traditional home cooked meal where they could all sit down, to cling to some semblance of normalcy.

Maddie hadn’t wanted to step away from their work down in the lab. The Spector Speeder 2.0 was far behind schedule. Things kept messing up, kept going missing. At first they had blamed it on ghosts, and to an extent that was correct given Vlad's involvement in the sabotage, but over the holiday she had snapped and blamed Jack, said maybe if he wasn’t so clumsy they’d be further along.

The day of Thanksgiving had been a mess of grief and frayed nerves. There was only so much Jasmine could do and honestly, she shouldn’t have been expected to mediate in the first place. It wasn’t her job. Sure she was studying psychology, but she was their kid.

The two had ended up arguing over how they were spending the holiday. Jack insisted that Maddie be in the main part of the house and out of the lab. Spending time with the family they still had was important. They couldn’t make up for all the time they had lost with Danny, but at least they could try to be better, more attentive parents now.

Maddie had stressed that finding out what happened to their son was what was most important. The faster they found Phantom and punished him for what, she was now one hundred percent sure, he had done to Danny the faster they could properly put the grief behind him. For her, that goal symbolized closure and she needed it more than anything. Without it any interaction with the rest of her family felt tainted and lackluster.

It hadn’t been a pretty...

This holiday though, this one was going to be different.

Vlad nodded to himself, bucking up his nerves for the visitors he’d have to his Amity mansion that evening as they properly began their Christmas festivities.

He stood at the top of his main hall’s staircase, looking down as several clones of himself flitted about the room, giving it the final touches. He wanted the place to bleed Yuletide festivity. He needed everything to be perfect.

He laughed at the thought, he sounded a bit like Jack had during Thanksgiving, but that wasn’t going to stop him, he was going to ensure that this party was perfect, that it was nice and relaxing for everyone.

After the year they’d had and the many, many rough years before it, they all deserved it.

Garlands hung from every available surface, coiling around the stair railings and dripping off mantle pieces. A large tree stood in the corner of the room, nestled against a window which revealed the snowy weather outside that was so perfect one might think he’d made a bargain with a certain weather ghost for it.

Glittering glass ornaments decorated the space along with warm, gold lights. Soft piano music played from distant, hidden speakers. A fire roared in the hearth and there was a long table covered in all manner of cocktails, cocoas, and dishes ranging from savory to sweet, simple to complex.

Being a well known, rich businessman had given Vlad plenty of opportunities to learn how to be a good party host and tonight he intended to put all that knowledge to good use. Lucky having clones had made all the preparations run smoothly and now all he had to do was wait for his guests to arrive.

Danielle was first, coming in through his ghost portal and floating up into the main living room, looking around with an expression he had never seen on her face while around him, eyes wide as she took in the room, “Woah, you really went all out didn’t you?”

“Been a while since I’ve thrown a party,” he hummed, finding that her awe sparked a warmth inside of him that he hadn’t felt in a long. “Wanted to see if I still had an eye for it.”

She reached towards the table and grabbed a small triangle sandwich, scarfing it down, “It’d be weird to compliment you,” she said and he chuckled, he supposed it would be odd for her to outright grant him praise, even if he supposed he’d earned it in this case. However, being as blunt as she tended to be she had to acknowledge his accomplishment in some way, even if that way was also through saying he wasn’t someone she considered it typical to compliment.

“Yes well, odd times.” Odd times indeed, that had seemed to be a theme since Daniel had left, “Find anything today?”

“The Fenton’s were out as far as I’ve seen them, but that’s about it, everyone else is getting ready for the truce party.”

“Will you be attending?”

Danielle shook her head, “I’ve already had a long day and then there’s this party tonight, plus the Grey’s are heading out early tomorrow morning to go visit with some family across the state.”

“You’ll need a good meal and some rest then,” Vlad said, stepping over to the tree to give the presents one last look over, trying to remember if he had any extras squirreled away in some forgotten closet.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever da-” Danielle’s mouth snapped closed before she could finish her sentence, hand tightening around a glass of punch she’d poured herself to go along with the sandwiches she was pilfering.

It had been meant to be a joke, like saying ‘jeez mom’ when Jazz fussed over her, but just the idea of almost calling Vlad dad in any capacity had her stomach clenching, body tensing with the implication of what time seemed to slowly be leading them to and it was a place she just was not ready for.

Vlad froze as he heard Danielle speak and although she hadn’t finished her sentence he knew what she had been about to say. He also knew the tone though, knew it was meant to be an off handed, a tease, but it still hit him.

He stood looking blindly at the tree in front of him, some of the lights seemed to stretch and smear. Why did it hurt?

It wasn’t a sharp pain, it wasn’t even a loud one. It was a dull ache that took roost in his chest, the realization that he should have tried to care about Danielle sooner.

It shouldn’t have taken Daniel leaving to prompt him into it.

He was disappointed in himself, disappointed that Danielle found herself unable to compliment him, to call him her father, to even stay in the mansion on a more regular basis. He’d flirted with the idea of having kids before and yet now that he technically had one he didn’t even act like it. Hell, he’d straight up abandoned her.

He sucked in a sharp breath, now wasn’t the time to get too caught up. He turned once he felt calm enough and walked up to stand beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

They weren’t at a point where he could call them a real family. They weren’t even at a point where they could say they were close yet. But, they were making progress and honestly that was more than Vlad expected or could even acknowledge he deserved all things considered. If this was as close as Danielle ever wanted to get to him then that was fine, but if it wasn’t then he’d work with her on patching things up further. They’d just both have to take life as it came. “The others will be here soon, probably best not to stay in ghost form.”

She nodded, bright rings of light washing over her to bring her back to her human form, “That means you have to get rid of all the Vlads though,” she said, looking around to the several other versions of himself who were finishing their work, “They’re kind of creepy you know.”

“Creepy?” Vlad said, feigning offense, “On the contrary Danielle, I find them to be quite charming.”

* * *

The rest of the guests arrived within the half hour, bundled up to block out the cold, huddling around the fire.

Jack scooped him up into a hug and for the first time in months it felt close to the hugs he’d used to give. Vlad took a second to not push away, although it wasn’t as if he was going to admit to that.

Maddie looked tired, but her smile was soft and Vlad was at the very least glad she’d managed to leave the lab.

“The place looks amazing, V-Man.” Jack said, clasping his hands over his shoulders as he set Vlad down.

Vlad smiled, then realized that he was and turned away quickly, stepping from Jack to pretend like he was showing off the room, “Thank you, I took inspiration from a few of the parties the Vanderbilt’s have thrown over the years.” He explained before launching into an obligatory spiel about the decor and food.

Everyone loaded up their plates and grabbed mugs of warm cocoa. Vlad poured glasses of champagne and eggnog and everyone sat around the long coffee table, huddled together on Vlad’s large couch and for a moment, however brief, things felt correct.

In the many months leading up to this moment everyone had felt slightly off center, pushed out of their places, but there in Vlad’s living room, plates filled with snacks, arms filled with each other, it seemed as if they were all clicking into place.

Jasmine and Valarie shared a seat, curling in on one another, Valarie’s head pressed warmly to Jasmine's chest as she pulled a throw blanket over their laps. Samantha and Tucker sat close together in matching turtlenecks, sharing a plate overflowing with the vegan cookies Vlad had been sure to make. Maddie smiled up at Jack as he handed her a warm cup of cocoa, piled high with whip cream, chocolate shavings, and a candy cane straw. Danielle was playing with Maddie the cat, whose Christmas themed collar jingled as she chased the ribbon Danielle moved teasingly across the floor.

Vlad looked to his right and for a split second he half expected Daniel to be there.

What would he have looked like if he were here? Would they even be here if not for his disappearance?

Daniel leaving had brought them together under a shroud of grief and regrets, forged them into something still new and growing, but wildly different from what they had been before.

Would it have been possible if nothing had changed?

He didn’t think so.

Vlad shook off the thoughts, a practiced process by now, and smiled as he turned to the tree, “Anyone up for opening gifts?”

“Vlad, you didn’t have to get us anything really, this party...all you’ve done this year-” Maddie started but Vlad shook his head.

“Nonsense, a few gifts is the least I can do.” He said, picking up a present and reading the label. “Tucker.”

Tucker reached out, taking the box from Vlad. Over the months he, Samantha, and Tucker had formed an unusual bond as they sabotaged Jack and Maddie’s work, covering for one another when needed, searching the Ghost Zone with Danielle, sharing different pieces of knowledge with one another about certain ghosts, and much to Vlad’s surprise Tucker was extremely useful in the lab. The two had begun making some original ghost equipment over the summer and despite much formal training Tucker kept up well.

Daniel had good friends.

Tucker tugged away the shiny red wrapping paper, not bothering with keeping it intact as he revealed what was underneath, “A new laptop, sick!” He opened it up quickly, pulling it from its protective cover.

“I’ve already loaded a few things onto it,” Vlad said, watching as Tucker turned the device on and began to look through the files, catching the moment when his eyes widened and looked up at him unsure. He didn’t say anything because he was near Jack and Maddie, but Vlad knew what he was silently asking and nodded.

He’d granted Tucker remote access to his lab files.

If they were going to keep working together it was for the best and it was also a huge gesture of the trust the likes of which the two had not yet expressed to one another, but after nearly a year working together Vlad thought it was about time.

He turned to pick up another package, this one notably larger than the last, “This one’s for Samantha.”

Sam set down her drink to accept it.

“Now I apologize, but I don’t recommend you take it out of its container and it will have to stay here until you personally have proper accommodations for it, but I saw it and knew I had to get it for you.”

Samantha’s eyes narrowed at him, “This better not be a giant snake or something.”

“No no,” Vlad said, rolling his hand to prompt her into opening it.

As she did she revealed a large glass box, inside of which were carefully placed books and papers

“What are these?”

“A collection of Poe’s original manuscripts and first publishings, the box is temperature controlled and I have a controlled room in my library, but knowing your love of horror and your family money it’s easy enough to assume you’ll have a space for it in good time.”

She stared at him, then at the books, then back to him, a complicated jumble of noise words passing through her lips, “V-Vlad these had to have been a fortune!”

A couple dozen grand to be exact, but for him it was chump change, he shrugged, “They will be a solid piece in what I’m sure will one day be an impressive collection of gothic literature, you can pay me back by letting me visit your library one day.”

She nodded, grinning, imagining getting into a temperature controlled room and carefully flipping the pages with gloved hands. “Deal.”

Danielle was up next, Vlad handing her a small package that she was quick to unwrap. Vlad knew the box, which was barely bigger than the size of one’s palm, wasn’t much to look at, but she’d love it nonetheless.

She pulled the top off and froze, staring down at it before— “Vlad this is a car key….VLAD THIS IS A CAR KEY!”

He grinned, shoving his hands nonchalantly into his suit pockets, “Well I couldn’t very well have fit a car in the living room now could I?” Okay he could have, but that would have ruined the fun. “I figured you’re going to be graduating high school soon and heading to college, you should have a way to get around.”

Danielle stood, “Is it in the garage!?

Vlad nodded and she squealed, snatching Valerie's hand and dragging her off Jasmine’s lap, “We have to go look at it!”

With that declaration everyone made their ways out to Vlad’s garage which currently didn't have too many cars in it, he kept most of his collection back at his main home in Wisconsin, but there was no missing the shiny new SUV with a large red ribbon.

Danielle ran to it, opening the front door and jumping in, practically vibrating in the seat.

“It’s nothing too fancy,” Vlad hummed, looking over the silver car, “I was more concerned about the safety features and the room. You’ll want it when you move and you can fit plenty of friends inside.”

Vlad’s version of ‘not too fancy’ meant that the car was still easily worth most of the cost to send her to undergrad, the interior lined with leather, the front loaded with all the new gadgets, “Just don’t crash it.”

“I won’t,” Danielle promised, fingers flexing around the wheel as if imagining taking it out for a spin, something that wouldn’t be too wise considering the weather outside.

After a while longer everyone went back to the living room and Vlad handed out the remainder of the gifts, including tickets to several psychology conventions for Jasmine where she’d be able to brush elbows with current leaders in the field, an all expenses paid road trip to the nations most haunted location for Jack and Maddie because he insisted they needed to take a vacation, and a laptop for Valerie which had a note in the files that said her actual gift was a full set of new ghost tech down in his lab.

For a while after the presents were opened everyone ate and talked, Danielle discussed the colleges she had applied to, Jasmine talked about her upcoming semester, and then Samantha and Tucker stood up.

“Guys,” Samantha said, pulling their attention away from their food and conversation, “Tucker and I have an important announcement.” She glanced over at him for a moment and smiled, her hand meeting his as he spoke.

“Our soul bonds completed.”

The pair of them tugged down the tops of their turtleneck sweaters to reveal the completed lines wrapping around their necks that cemented them as soulmates.

A flurry of emotions ran through the room, typically soul bonds completing was a joyous occasion and the kind you’d expect to be presented at a holiday party such as this, but one question hung in the minds of everyone who knew the truth about Danny.

What would he think when Sam and Tucker’s lines disappeared from his body? Even if he was still in ghost form wherever he was hiding he would still be able to feel it, feel those severed connections.

He would know then, have undeniable proof that their lives were moving on without him.

Things were changing, the world was turning, and Vlad was left to bear Daniel’s soul line alone.

Jasmine was the first to break the tense atmosphere, standing to pull Sam and Tucker in a tight hug, “That’s incredible you two!” She smiled, but Vlad could hear the conflicting emotions in her tone.

At best this was bittersweet… at worse, well, that had yet to be seen.

“We know… we know it’s different since Danny isn’t here,” Samantha started, Jack and Maddie reaching for each other’s hands to grip them tightly, in pain but still trying to be happy, “And we know things aren’t happening the way we wanted them to, but guys, we really are happy.”

“And that’s what matters,” Jasmine said with an assuring nod.

“...Yes, that’s all that matters, you two, really,” Maddie managed, offering them up a smile before the pair leaned in to hug her.

* * *

Hours later everyone had gone, leaving Vlad alone with a rather big mess he wasn’t in the mood to clean and a small buzz from the eggnog and champagne. But the night wasn’t quite over, he still had a second party to attend.

With how often he had questioned ghosts from the Zone over the past year, how much he’d turned to them for help, it was only courteous for him to make an appearance at the yearly Christmas truce party. As with all business dealings it was best to extend white flags while asking for favors.

He went down to his lab, transforming into his ghost half on the way and opening his portal. Lucky the party wasn’t too far away as it was being held in Ghostwriter’s library. Vlad yawned a bit as he floated into the Zone, he’d forgotten how tiring hosting a party could be. Maybe he’d indulge himself a bit and drink some of the ‘spirits’ the party always had on hand, loosen up, take it easy and then crash when he got back to the mansion.

As he arrived at the party he spotted Skulker loitering by the door, arms crossed over his chest. Vlad hadn’t intended to say anything to him besides perhaps a customary greeting, but as he got closer Skulker stepped forward to block him, “Plasmius.”

“Skulker, a pleasure,” he lied, stopping in front of him, “Would you mind telling me why you’re blocking the entrance?”

Skulker eyed him up and down for a moment, seeming to debate something Vlad couldn’t quite place, but before the halfa could get too annoyed and demand he move, he spoke, “Whelp is in there.”

Vlad stiffened, thinking he’d misheard, “Excuse me?”

Skulker looked back at the door with a quick jerk of his head, “Phantoms’ here, thought you should know before you went in.”

Daniel was here? Vlad blanched as much as he could in ghost form, nerves tightening around his throat like a noose. A year of nothing, a year of grief, of change, and now this? He was just going to show up to the Christmas truce party like it was nothing?

They had buried him, searched endlessly for him and he was just here? Now? Why?

Vlad grit his teeth, “Let me through.”

Skulker didn’t budge, “This is a truce party, Plasmius.”

“I am aware,” He ground out, all the anger he’d suppressed over the last year beginning to rise to the back of his throat in a demanding push even as his better judgement tried to tell him that if he went at this the wrong way he’d end up scaring Daniel off, “Now move. You’re not some bouncer.”

“If you break the tru-”

“I’m not going to break it! We’re just going to talk.” He snapped, forcing down the urge to blast Skulker out of the way.

The hunter let out a sharp laugh, the sound running up Vlad’s spine like a cheese grater, “Phantom and Plasmius never talked at the best of times.”

“May I remind you that blocking someone who has not made verbal or physical threats from the party violates the truce as well.” He said, spitting the words at Skulker with all the venom he could manage. He hadn’t fought anyone in a long time, but in that moment he wanted little more than to remind Skulker that he was not an entity to be toyed with.

Skulker narrowed his eyes at him, holding the glare for a long while before relenting and stepping aside.

Vlad glared back at him as he crossed the threshold, immediately seeking Daniel’s energy signal out through the crowd of ghosts. A few of the attendants froze when they saw him and Ghostwriter was quick to appear at his side with a tray of food, “Plasmius, so nice to see you here!” He greeted with a false ease that did nothing to distract him from his search. “Have you tried some of the food yet?”

“Not in the mood,” he said, forcing the other ghost to walk and talk with him.

“Aw come on you really should get into the ‘spirit’ of things! Get it?”

Vlad’s hands flexed to fists at his side, “Stop playing host.”

Ghostwriter’s too wide smile faltered, “Vlad everyone knows what’s about to happen, can you at least try to keep civil.”

“Where is he?”

“Vlad as your friend I have to advise th-“

Vlad stopped in his tracks, forcing the other who had been struggling to keep up with his demanding pace to come to an abrupt and awkward halt, his snacks shaking on their tray and threatening to topple over. “You’ve helped me a lot in the past,” he managed, trying to push his anger down at least when it came to a ghost he actively considered an ally of his, “But I have to talk to him.”

Ghostwriter’s eyes darted across the room, jaw setting tight, “He was one of the first guests to arrive, hasn’t stopped drinking since he got here. Really Vlad, I get it, you’ve been looking for him for months, but now… he’s a ticking time bomb, it’s probably best for you to stay away,” he sighed, looking back to Vlad with a resigned expression, “But I know once you get your mind set on something there’s no changing it. Just promise me you’ll take it outside when it goes south, I’ve got a lot of books I’d rather not try to replace.”

Daniel was drinking? He’d never seemed to be the type back when he was actively among the living. To Vlad’s knowledge he hadn’t even drank during the short time he was in college. Worry mixed with his anger, just a few drops at first, but beginning to fester.

“We’ll take it outside if things get messy,” he promised with a nod, knowing the importance Ghostwriter placed on his books and honestly he wouldn’t take too well to the library being destroyed either, he rather enjoyed perusing the shelves when the other ghost permitted him to. It was a valuable collection and he’d learned a lot over his years with his ally’s help and resources.

“Good, try not to go all scary Plasmius too fast,” he said, laughing a bit as Vlad glared at him in response, “He’s over by historical fiction.”

With a curt thank you Plasmius made his way towards the section, the other ghosts giving him a wide berth.

He found Daniel sprawled out on a lounge couch, several empty ‘spirit’ glasses sitting abandoned on the table and a bottle in his hand. He hadn’t seemed to have noticed him which spoke greatly to his inebriation given that he knew Vlad’s ectosignature like the back of his hand.

Vlad stopped in the archway to the room, chest tight with the revelation that after all their searching for him Daniel was there right in front of him. The very halfa he’d fantasized about strangling until he admitted his so called death had been a mistake, the very halfa who had broke his parent’s hearts and left his potential soul mates without so much as a parting goodbye, who had left behind his sister and Valarie and especially Danielle who had looked up to him more than anyone else; he was right there.

What was there to say?

He’d paced his bedroom in the long hours of the night imagining how he’d yell at Daniel when he got the chance, how he’d chastise him, how he’d beat some sense into him, but now the words wouldn’t come.

When people left, what did you say to bring them back?

It’d never been something he was good at.

All he managed was a soft, hardly angry at all, “Daniel…”

“Daniel.”

His voice came from Phantom’s mouth and he shivered, recalling how close the impression had been years ago against his own couch, in front of his own coffee table, the halfa drunk with the healing serum he’d given him.

Now the imitation was spot on and terribly eerie.

“Never knew why you called me that,” He rose, head lifting from where it had lain in a lull against the armrest of the couch, bottle clutched snuggly in his hand, “Have you heard the good news?”

Their eyes met as a grin scrawled across Daniel’s face, it was a horrid, morose thing, no joy in it.

Vlad’s throat closed up. What news..? News that Daniel was here, that he wasn’t hiding?

Apparently he’d been too quiet for too long in the heavy atmosphere, Daniel’s free hand lifted, fingers catching the clasp on the back of his trademark hazmat suit to free the fabric up and begin pulling it down.

Vlad stood, confused, “Daniel what are y-” he couldn’t complete the question, too shocked as the other halfa tugged his free arm out to reveal his left shoulder and all of his neck. Why the hell was he undressing?

“Look.” Daniel commanded and although he’d averted his eyes, Vlad listened. Daniel gestured to his throat where there were no lines because only completed lines stayed while in ghost form, but Vlad knew well enough what he’d meant to show. Perhaps if he hadn’t been so drunk he would have remembered to shift into a human, but now he didn’t even bother, “Sam and Tucker finished their bonds. I’m not their soulmate.”

Vlad stiffened at the malice in Daniel’s tone, the betrayal. Hadn’t that been what he wanted? Hadn’t he wanted them to live their lives without him?

He brought the bottle to his lips and took a long drink, “Took them long enough.”

“Yes, I know. They told me,” he managed, feeling somehow small beneath Daniel’s narrowing eyes.

“They told you?” He asked, his syllables coming out clipped and sharp, accusatory. “Now why would they do that?”

The energy was quickly shifting to something noticeably more dangerous. Vlad took a slow deep breath, remembering what he’d told himself when he’d stood at the door. If he got too angry too fast he’d scare Daniel off.

He nodded slowly, deliberately, “We had a party, they made an announcement for everyone.”

Daniel rolled his eyes, “Bet you were the life of that particular gathering, what’d you get, a pity invite?”

Vlad’s teeth met with an audible click, whole body tightening before he managed to bite out his response, “Actually Daniel, it was at my place. Having been there for your family after your murder we have grown quite close again.”

Daniel shuffled a bit until his clothes were once more situated correctly against his body, “Bet you’re loving that, catering to my mom in her time of grief. Did my funeral give you any ideas for the one you’ll be giving my dad when you get your big, fancy revenge?”

Vlad hated how Daniel needled him, poking and pressing like he’d always done, dragging up the points that hurt him the most. This time though, it hurt for a different reason. “No. I don’t like it at all.”

Daniel took another drink, letting his head roll back again too far for it to be natural, “Aw having me out of the way of all your stupid plans not all it’s cracked up to be, Vladdie?” His voice shifted at the end, making Vlad’s eyes widen as he involuntarily took a step back. He sounded like Jack, the mocking tone one he’d never heard in Daniel’s father but it was unmistakably his voice.

Daniel looked back up at him, head snapping forward, another grin on his face and this one said he was having fun. Maddie’s voice filled the room, “Not satisfied with me, darling?”

Vlad didn’t know where Daniel had learned such a skill, the impersonations too spot on to be human, but he had encountered hints of it years before and now he was witnessing the power come to fruition in the mocking voices of the people he’d worked so hard to regain the trust of.

“Shut up.”

“Oh?” Maddie seemed to ask as Daniel set the bottle down on the table with a thunk and drew himself to his full height. He had gone through another growth spurt in the time since Vlad had seen him, easily a head taller now and stronger looking, “Are you not having fun?”

“I said shut up.” He was shaking, stepping forward now, not back, hands clenched, energy spiking around him.

“Or what?” Daniel spoke in voice that Vlad had never heard. It was low and dark, almost soft, even as it overflowed with hatred. It sounded so much like Daniel, but a Daniel he couldn’t comprehend, “You’ll beat me up?”

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done!?” He snapped, getting beaten was the least Daniel deserved and the least he intended to do. “Do you have any idea how this has affected your friends and family!? Do you even care!”

“Do you even care, Plasmius?”

He stalked forward, crowding into Daniel’s space only to realize fully how much smaller he was now, especially with the threatening aura that seemed to pour off the other halfa in waves, “Yes, I do. Jack and Maddie are my friends and you… you made them think you were murdered! Parents should never have to go through that! How could you?”

Daniel sneered, leering over him and Vlad could smell the alcohol heavy on his breath, “If I hadn’t died they would have kept looking for me.”

“They still are!” Vlad yelled, refusing to back down even as his ghost core kicked up instinctively, telling him he really shouldn’t be poking Daniel now. “They’re out here every day looking for Phantom because they think it was him, or looking for your ghost, or talking to police. Almost a year and they’re still looking!”

Daniel's eyes widened and for a moment, a split second, a sliver of pain gleamed in them that made him look like the Daniel Vlad remembered, but then it was gone, “That’s their fault.”

Vlad exploded. It was not Jack and Maddie’s fault they were in pain! The sleepless nights, the grief and fear that seemed to eat them alive was not their fault! He snatched Daniel up by the front of his suit, hands fisting in the tight material, “Fuck you.”

Danny laughed, low and amused, “Oh ancients Vladimir, did you just use a big boy curse word?” He leaned in close and Vlad could see the hint of new fangs peeking out from under his lips, “I must have really hit a nerve.”

Vlad blasted Daniel back, slamming him into a nearby shelf. The sound of the commotion drew onlookers, the ghosts that had moved to other parts of the library to give them space now crowding into the doorway to get a look at the fight they’d known was coming for months.

Ghostwriter pushed his way to the front, “Outside! Take it outside!”

Danny smiled again and stalked forward, grabbing Vlad hard by the collar of his suit and forcefully turning him intangible to fling him all at once from the library and out into the Ghost Zone, “Gladly.”

* * *

Vlad reeled as he was thrown, form tumbling end over end and struggling to regain control in a realm that had an extremely loose definition of up and down. It didn’t matter though, Daniel was on top of him in an instant, hitting him hard to send him crashing into some floating debris. Vlad gasped, body aching at the impact as the air was forced from him. It already felt like he’d at least sprained a few ribs. Since when could Phantom hit that hard?

“Been wanting to do that for a while,” Daniel hummed as Vlad righted himself, the man baring his fangs in an animalistic show of anger a younger Danny might have joked about.

Vlad sent a ray of energy out towards the younger halfa, but Daniel dodged him easily, making use of the wide space around them as Vlad’s blasts dogged at his heels.

Vlad got the eerie feeling that Daniel could have moved faster if he wanted too and grit his teeth in grim determination, “You’re coming back to Amity and explaining all of this to Jack and Maddie! And then you’re going to apologize for being a self centered, childish, brat!”

Daniel blinked out of existence only to reappear behind him, Vlad whipping around to catch the punch that was thrown his way, the force with which their hands collided sending a shock wave out that forced the both of them apart again, “Me, childish and self centered, that's rich coming from you, Plasmius.” He fired off a few blasts, each one following Vlad’s movements. He’d learned to lead well in the time he’d spent hidden away and he was good at predicting Vlad’s movements.

A ray of energy grazed Vlad’s cheek, searing there to bring bright pink ectoplasm to the surface. He hissed at the pain.

“How about you stop pretending to give a shit about them.”

“How about you stop pretending you don’t!” It wasn’t the best comeback, but in Vlad’s defense Daniel was still chasing him with ghost rays and his face was throbbing with pain. “You left everyone! Do you have any idea how often Danielle is out here looking for you!?”

A second Phantom stepped into existence, kicking him hard in the chest, “Don’t you dare talk about her as if you have any moral high ground! You abandoned her for years!”

Daniel was right and he knew it, but his words did nothing to change how he felt about Daniel leaving. He straightened, the ribs he’d bruised earlier were broken now, catching as he dragged in a harsh breath. He launched forward, grabbing the original Phantom hard by the front of his suit, crashing them against another outcropping of earth and stone that floated through the zone. He reared back, punching Danny hard across the face, hard enough to crack the rock underneath his head, “Your parents had to identify your mangled body!” He struck Daniel again, harder this time, “They had to bury you! Samantha and Tucker have to go to school without you! Your sister lost her only brother!”

Daniel grabbed his hand as it came crashing down to hit him again, newly clawed hands biting into his flesh, staining the both of them with the ectoplasm, “Shut up!” He screamed, kicking to try and buck Vlad off, but he was bearing down as hard as he could.

“No you shut up you have no idea what you’ve done! Danielle can’t sleep, Jack blames himself, Maddie is losing her grip on everything and it’s your fault! Your fault! You abandoned them!” He struggled to get his hand from Daniel’s grip, but it was useless.

Daniel’s free hand moved as quick as lightning, flaring up with bright green energy, crashing his palm into Vlad’s face, blasting him from the incredibly short range.

Vlad screamed in pain and disorientation as Daniel shoved him off him, switching their positions.

Danny arched back, slamming his fist into Vlad’s face again, still wreathed in green energy and burning as he hit Vlad in rapid succession. “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!”

Vlad coughed up ectoplasm, catching the grind of newly freed teeth in his throat, choking on them.

“You never knew when to shut the fuck up!” His hand came down heavy, over and over and over. “Don’t show up and start preaching to me about not leaving!”

Vlad’s mind was spinning too fast to truly capture the words, to absorb them. His head throbbed, ectoplasm smeared heavily across his skull, mixing with the green energy Daniel was using to tear into him. His ears were ringing, his grip on Danny’s arms starting to loosen; fingers trembling.

“D-Daniel…”

“I said shut up!” Danny yelled again, his power radiating as green lightning around him with his anger and grief. He pulled back only to crash forward again, harder than ever this time and Vlad heard a crack and his vision flickered in and out in large spots. It was getting harder and harder to try and kick Danny off.

“I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!” Danny was chanting the words now, clawed hands tearing through the front of his jumpsuit with how hard he held him, landing hit after hit until Vlad’s skull looked like little more than smear across the stone.

“Dan…” Vlad slipped under, his world stollen by the pain of how he was stuck and the ringing that overwhelmed his thoughts.

Danny froze, hand hanging in the air, suspended above his head, fist clenched tight and covered in the bright pink of Vlad’s ectoplasm. His eyes widened as his breath heaved in his chest. “What did you just say to me!?” He demanded, lifting Vlad’s limp body from the ground, the man’s arms slumping lifeless to lay behind him. Danny kept his other hand clenched, ready, another ghost ray charging between his fingers, “What the fuck did you just call me!”

Vlad didn’t answer him, Danny shook him roughly, sending stray bits of ectoplasm, bone, and brain matter to spray macabrely against the rubble.

“Answer me!” Danny shot his ray into the ground beside Vlad, the blast echoing out in the now deafening quiet.

Amongst the suffocating silence Danny sensed motion, gaze wrenching violently to stare down whoever dared come close to him, angered yell faltering in his chest as he saw the attendees of the Christmas truce party. They stared at him, fear in their eyes like he’d never seen before on the faces of his friends. Amber looked especially torn, hand resting apprehensively on her guitar as if she expected him to attack them next as they huddled close to one another.

Didn’t they… didn’t they know he was just beating up Plasmius!?

He deserved to get the shit beat out of him! He was Plasmius for ancient’s sake! He had manipulated and hurt all of them time after time, he deserved a good ass kicking.

But when in the past they might have fought alongside him after Vlad pulled who knew what convoluted stunt, or at least cheered him on, now they looked repulsed, disappointed, afraid.

Danny looked down at Vlad, at the mess he’d made of him, at his broken body and torn clothes, his hand lowered, he let Vlad drop fully to the ground.

What had he done?

He reeled back, scrambling from Vlad’s body, cutting his hands against the rough surface of the outcropping. His heart pounded in his chest. What had he done!? He’d never hurt an opponent like this, never kept hitting them while they were down, while they were passed out and defenseless. Vlad had stopped being able to fight a while ago and he’d just kept on hurting him, kept on yelling at him. Even after passing out he had threatened to hurt Vlad, had taken aim at him, had shook him hard enough to exacerbate his wounds as Danny had demanded answers.

That wasn’t something a hero did.

That was something he did…

He grit his teeth, clumsily getting to his feet, swaying. He tipped his head back, swallowing down the drinks that were threatening to come up, his body finally beginning to catch up with his emotions. That had been way too much movement right after drinking as much as he had. He ran his hands through his ectoplasm spattered hair, tugging at the strands as he slurred, “Fuck...shit, I’m sorry.”

He didn’t know exactly who he was speaking to, Vlad was down for the count and it wasn’t as if he’d spoken loud enough for the other ghosts to hear, at least, he didn’t think he had. But that didn’t matter, what mattered was the guilt that was steadily turning his stomach as queasy as the alcohol had and it wasn’t a welcome combination.

He refocused on Vlad, watching with mounting worry as rings of light sputtered to life around him, shifting him back into his human form. He’d take longer to heal that way, especially in the ghost zone.

Danny stumbled forward on an instinct he hadn’t quite felt in a while. Vlad was an asshole… but he hadn’t deserved that. Danny let out a frustrated sigh, this bastard better never bring this up.

He tugged Vlad’s body awkwardly by one arm, shifting him until he was tossed over his shoulder like he was some demented Santa and Vlad was the worst present imaginable. He looked back at the party goers, “I’m gonna… I’mma head out.”

No one answered him as he left with Vlad, flying haphazardly through the Ghost Zone. Navigating was hard enough drunk but now he had to carry Vlad all the way back to his stupid portal which happened to feel about a million times further away than he remembered it being.

Stumbling back into the human realm felt like being dunked in cold water, a fair portion of the ghost ‘spirits’ wearing off in a rush with a massive throb to his head that left a migraine to boil its way between his eyes. The effect of gravity felt foreign against his skin as he transformed back into a human for the first time in months.

It felt wrong.

He shoved a few papers off a table and laid Vlad down, his blood coating Danny’s back and making a quick mess of the lab. Danny winced...the last time he’d seen injuries like these he’d…

He shook his head, he didn't want to think about that. He also didn't want to feel real air around him, feel the ground beneath his feet. He shifted back into Phantom for now. It felt better this way.

Looking around the lab, Danny narrowed his eyes, rubbing his face a bit with the exhaustion that seemed to want to pull his bones from his flesh and render him inarticulate. This bastard had medicine in here, he’d given some to Danny years ago, lord knew why.

His gaze focused on a glass shelf that held a variety of packages and beakers inside. Why did he still keep glass in here, it was too breakable. He opened the doors and pawed through the boxes and files, not even sure what he was looking for, it wasn’t like he was some fucking doctor. Besides, even if he was, how was he supposed to fix the massive hole he’d blown in Vlad’s skull?

Normal people died from that.

The thought hit him hard. Making him sway, he reached out to grip one of the glass shelves only for it to shatter under his weight and the way his fingers had tightened, shards slicing into him, green ectoplasm sluicing down his palm and wrist as the contents of the shelf tumbled to the floor.

Normal people died from what he’d done to Vlad.

Hell, not even normal people.

If it had been Dani who had shown up to the party, Dani who had gotten in a fight with him, he could have destabilized her.

He could have murdered her.

Just like Dan.

He backed away from the shelf, glass crunching under his feet as he shook his head. No. No he wasn’t Dan he didn't kill people… he didn’t, Danny looked back at Vlad, remembered what he’d said before he passed out and clenched his hands in his hair. Tears welled hot in his eyes, he couldn’t fucking breathe.

No, no, no, no, no!

He wasn’t Dan! He was Danny, he was Phantom, he was a hero and he was going to fix this because that’s what heroes did. They helped people even if the person they were helping happened to be an asshole.

The sides of his face burned, the pain grounding before he realized what he’d been doing, searing into his skin with ectoenergy he hadn’t known he was emitting.

The medicine, he needed to find the medicine.

He breathed in the scent of burnt skin and hair and collected his thoughts. He could break down later, for now he had to shove it aside and he knew how to do that, knew how to push the panic and dread down into his stomach and keep it there. He’d had years of practice.

Looking down he found that one of the boxes that had fallen to the floor contained several large needles full of grayish liquid. He picked one up, looking it over before tipping the box up and digging around inside of it for some kind of label.

He could almost thank Vlad for being so meticulous about his lab. A file rested within the box and when he opened it the title of the first page read —

**_‘Core Stabilizing Supplement’_ **

  * _Doses per vial: one._
  * _Doses required for normal treatment: one._
  * _Uses: Core stabilizer, healing agent, pain reliever._
  * _Warning: For use on individuals subjected to ectoplasmic radiation poisoning resulting in DNA mutations only. Do not overdose._
  * _Full instructions on VIS: pg 12._



Danny turned the pages, glancing down at the vial in his hand. The last time he’d seen a shot this big he’d been in elementary school and had come down with a nasty cough and fever he hadn’t been able to shake. The doctor had come in with a needle so huge he’d burst into tears just seeing it. His mom and dad had held him down as the nurse had pulled down his pants and they’d jammed the needle right into his left buttcheek.

He grimaced, looking at Vlad. Oh God, was he going to have to give this to Vlad like that?

**‘ _Vaccine information statement (VIS) and Administration Procedures’_**

The top of the page ran through medical jargon and chemical names Danny didn't even want to begin deciphering, skimming through until he got to the subheading about administration.

**‘ _Administration Procedures_ ’**

  * _Location site: Jugular._



  
**_IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not use this procedural method if the neck is damaged in any way, proceed to administer in the largest available intramuscular site._ **

Vlad’s neck didn’t look damaged, just his skull and his brains, so that was good, no stabbing Plasmius in the ass. The rest he felt was fairly self explanatory. How complicated could it be, the shots were already pre measured into their tubes, needles capped at the top, so he wouldn’t have to bother with measuring anything out.

He looked the rest of the page over just to check and make sure he wasn’t missing anything.

  * _If results do not manifest within sixty minutes a second dose may be granted in individuals over eighteen._
  * _Desired results: Core stabilization, increased healing speed, pain relief._
  * _If condition does not change within twenty four hours a third dose may be given to individuals over eighteen._
  * _Do not exceed three doses within a thirty eight hour period._  
 _Results may vary._
  * _**Side effects may include but are not limited to** : Vomiting, loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, limb deformation upon regrowth, unprompted form shifting, loss of power control including but not limited to sudden intangibility, uncontrollable floating, sudden cloning, growth of additional limbs, core malfunctions —_



Danny looked away from all the side effects which had begun scrolling through his tired mind like the quick, barely understandable voices in drug commercials on t.v. If Vlad got sick because of his own medicine that was his problem.

He stood, removing the protective plastic from around the shot and walking around the room until he found a basic first aid kit, tugging out a packet of alcohol wipes. It wasn’t perfectly sterile, but halfas were strong he’d be fine.

He came back to Vlad who was only sort of breathing. Danny tried not to feel guilty. He could do that later he reminded himself as he tugged Vlad’s tie off and undid the top button of his collared shirt. God, was this guy ever going to stop wearing this damn suit? He grumbled inwardly to himself so he didn’t have to think about how he was sort of undressing Vlad and how he’d sorta kinda maybe killed him.

Wiping Vlad’s neck down with an alcohol pad, Danny paused as he saw his soul line there. It was longer than he remembered it. Why was it always longer than he remembered every time they interacted? Hell it’d gotten longer by about half an inch just from their conversation about aging at Vlad’s birthday party before he had left permanently for the GZ and sure that wasn’t too much length, but it had been enough to piss him off.

Now, Vlad lying unconscious on the table as Danny pressed a needle into his neck, it was longer yet again.

He slid the needle all the way into the jugular vein and pressed his thumb down against the plunger, finding it took quite a bit of force to push the grey liquid out and into the halfa beneath him. Vlad groaned quietly as he did, it seemed like he was slowly starting to regain some consciousness.

Danny wasn’t sure how he felt about that. It wasn’t as if he necessarily wanted Vlad to wake up and try to start shit again.

Yanking the needle out he dug around for a band aid in the first aid kit and pressed it to the hole the shot had left. That seemed good enough.

He picked Vlad back up and turned them both intangible, finding Vlad’s bedroom easily enough and moving to set him down into the covers before faltering. If he set him down now he’d just get blood and ectoplasm all over the sheets. Danny frowned, guilt eating at him even when he told himself it shouldn’t be. The man had enough money to just buy new sheets and hadn’t he already done enough for his nemesis by picking him up and bringing him back to the living world?

No. His mind supplied the word easily enough even as he tried to shy away from it. Cleaning up his own messes didn’t really count as any kind of hero work, it was the bare minimum and if a younger version of himself had seen what he’d done, what he was still doing in attempting to fix things as little as possible, he’d be horrified, disgusted even.

Danny sighed and brought Vlad into his bathroom, not even surprised by how needlessly fancy it was as he set him down on the sink counter. “Don’t fall over.” He instructed as if Vlad could hear him as his body slumped against the mirror. He wet a towel in the sink, letting the warm water wash away the mess on his own hands, blood and ectoplasm swirling slowly down the drain.

He hadn’t intended to ever come back to the world of the living… at least not for a very long time and yet, here he was in Vlad’s bathroom. He wrung the towel of the excess water, picking Vlad up from his slump with a tenderness he couldn’t remember using on anyone in so long as he began to clean the man’s face, brushing his hair back to reveal his healing skull.

It would still take him a while to fully recover, but it looked like the drugs he’d given Vlad were working.

He sat the rag aside for a moment as he tugged Vlad’s suit jacket off and tossed it in a nearby clothes hamper, although he knew from experience that getting ectoplasm out of clothes was difficult and it might as well just be tossed in the trash. Even if Vlad could get the pink and green splattered across it out of the fabric it would forever smell like iron, burnt rubber, and sharp, viscous chemical oil, the kind that leaked from glow sticks and stuck to the back of the throat in a burning slide.

Smells like that never left something once they’d permeated through.

Vlad’s shirt was the next to come off, Danny wincing as he saw the bruises blooming across the man’s pale chest, dark purples and reds along his ribs where Danny had kicked him.

Rinsing the rag off for a moment he moved back to continue cleaning Vlad, letting him rest against his shoulder so he could wipe down his back and behind his neck where a majority of the mess had pooled. As he did he felt Vlad move slightly, limp arms twitching to lift up and around his sides.

Danny stiffened, pausing his ministrations, eyes finding his own in the mirror to watch as Vlad hugged a figure he’d not fully seen in years, but took in now with abject horror.

Why hadn’t he noticed it sooner…

He’d felt the fangs coming in, felt his ears lengthen and point, but looking at himself now it truly sank in how much he was beginning to look like the monster he’d spent years of his life running from. His skin was starting to tint, his long, white hair moved in hypnotic patterns. He wasn’t far from being as old as Dan had been now and it was showing… and not just in his physical appearance.

Had he been doomed to this from the start..?

Fingers clenching into his clothes brought his attention back to the moment as Vlad warmed underneath his body, his core starting to kick into full gear to heal him now that the shot had helped things along.

“Stay.”

Danny barely heard the word, the single syllable clawing its way from Vlad’s throat in a wheeze.

“I hate you.”

It was the only response Danny could muster, even as Vlad’s fingers tightened around him further as if intent on keeping him there physically despite being in no shape to do so.

Why the hell did Vlad even want him to come back? He’d spouted off all that stuff about his family back at the party, but it wasn't like Vlad to actually care about those types of things. Besides… Vlad had left too, he had no room to talk or demand anything of him. Danny owed him nothing and he didn’t intend to start acting like it.

Finishing what he was doing Danny washed out the rag one more time and tossed it in the hamper before scooping Vlad up and carrying him to the bed. He moved to lay him down but Vlad protested, tugging until Danny was draped over him.

“Stop!” Danny snapped, not in the mood for another fight or whatever the hell Vlad was doing, grabbing Vlad’s hands and yanking them away forcefully, but Vlad was quick to try and reach out again “What the fuck are you doing?”

Vlad's eyes found his and narrowed, they were tired and hazy, no doubt still lost in his injuries and the medication he’d been given, but he still managed to speak again, “Stay.”

“No.”

Vlad bit out a growl, the angered huff escaping him as Danny squeezed his wrists together hard to keep him from grabbing at him.

An arm wrapped around his back, a body laying across him, pushing him down demandingly.

Danny flinched, turning back to see a half formed Vlad clone now attempting to force him to the bed. Danny yanked away from the original Vlad, shoving the broken clone from him with a fearful disgust.

It was missing its head, its right arm, and a fair amount of its chest, it stumbled about disjointedly, confused, lost, before tumbling to the floor.

Was this a side effect of the medicine?

Vlad’s files had noted sudden cloning as something that could occur, but seeing it happen brought back terrifying memories of the broken, half made clones Vlad had once kept in his lab.

In his distraction Vlad grabbed at him again, causing him to groan in frustration, turning around in a rush that caused Vlad to flinch as he threw his hands up out of anger.

Danny had meant to yell at Vlad, meant to lash out and tell him to just stop, that he was leaving and Vlad could get the fuck over it, but seeing Vlad flinch made him faulter.

Vlad was still incredibly torn up, his brain was still exposed, a few of his teeth were still missing, the bruises on his chest hadn’t faded. He was drugged up, dizzy, and half awake, but here he was trying to keep Danny to stay.

 _Why_?

Why was he trying so hard?

“Fuck, fine.” He conceded, telling himself that he’d only agreed to stay for the time being just in case Vlad manifested any other side effects. He’d watch long enough to make sure that his mistake had been righted and then he would leave.

He walked to the other side of the bed, trying not to watch as the half Vlad on the floor slumped fully to the wood with a disjointed spasm before disintegrating in a mess of quickly disappearing pink ectoplasm. His stomach churned at the image, making him swallow hard against the threatening nausea.

He sat down on the other side of the bed and stared pointedly at Vlad, “Look, I’m here, happy?”

Vlad closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. After a few minutes the cadence of his breathing shifted and Danny knew he had fallen asleep.

He sighed, watching as Vlad’s body slowly healed and relaxed into the mattress, the other halfa’s body carefully piecing itself back together.

An hour passed and then two, Danny’s eyes were heavy and he wanted to rest, but he hadn’t had a good night's sleep in a long time and the thought of drifting off beside Vlad didn’t sit well with him. Nothing about this situation did.

He looked out the window into the snowy night beyond and recognized the town of Amity from Vlad’s master bedroom high off the ground. He’d come back here… after everything, after two years of being away, of promising he’d never see Danny again.

How soon after his disappearance had he shown up?

Danny stood quietly, knowing that if he disturbed Vlad they’d get into yet another frustrating and confusing spat. He went to the window, looking over the town he’d called home for most of his life and partial after life. He hadn’t honestly thought he’d see it again.

He stepped out through the glass, letting the cold wash over him in a comforting wave. It didn’t seem real, this moment here under the stars and snowflakes, streetlights illuminating the dark. For a minute he simply floated, transcendent and transfixed on the life he’d given up far before anyone had realized it, suspended in the silence.

Danny looked back at Vlad, his tired figure outlined on the bed by the bathroom light he hadn’t bothered to turn off, his breathing slow and steady.

“Goodbye, Vlad.”

* * *

Phantom blinked out of existence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lil bit of a cliffhanger for you guys again uwu
> 
> Hope you like! I’m not really used to writing physical fight scenes so I hope it was okay
> 
> Also, legit, I know nothing about medical stuff so sorry if you see like some serious major flaws I’m not a doctor or medical researcher lol
> 
> Kudos and comments much appreciated <3


	7. What happened that morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter acts as a buffer between Part 2 and the upcoming Part 3 that will begin in chapter 8
> 
> I used this chapter to focus a lot on prose, tone, and paragraph spacing. This chapter can also be considered a character study I guess, so there’s that.
> 
> Warning this chapter does contain depression and suicide (sort of suicide but we’re just gonna call it suicide).
> 
> If you’ve read this far then you know that Danny has had to fake his death through murdering his clone in order to disappear into the ghost zone for what he assumes is forever. This chapter is about that.

* * *

Two hours before Danny Fenton’s ‘death’  
4:47 am

* * *

  
Danny hadn’t slept that night, couldn’t, knowing what was to come.

He’d thought about it a lot over the months, what Vlad had said at his birthday party.

Vlad hadn’t been able to choose when he lost the people he loved… but maybe Danny could.

He’d have to, in the end that was an inescapable fact, but he had the power to decide when it happened.

The thought had taken root in him as they’d driven back to UW- Madison after the party. He’d watched Tucker and Sam while in the car, they were going to die without him and hopefully move on; as much as he liked the Ghost Zone he knew it was a limbo space filled with the what ifs and regrets of life and that wasn’t something he would wish on them.

He didn’t want to watch them grow old, he didn’t want to watch them die. The thought of it had already been hounding at him for a few years now and maybe it was selfish but he wanted to remember them as they were now.

Danny didn’t want to look back and think of their breaking down bodies, their sicknesses, them laying in a hospital bed waiting to die.. he wanted now, he wanted here.

He wanted Sam as bright and as spunky as ever, protesting, taking absolutely no shit while dishing out snark and kicking his ass at Doom.

He wanted Tucker carrying on about the correct way to make a meatloaf while wearing an awful apron in the kitchen, wanted his look of nearly deranged glee as he invented something new and how hyper he got when he insisted on drinking energy drinks to stay up studying.

Maybe it was petty, maybe it was short sighted, but that was what he wanted… these memories, this reality, persevered and untainted by the darker truths of growing up.

He’d made his decision before they’d gotten back to the apartment, he hadn’t confessed as much to himself, but looking back, he’d already known even then where this was going.

The thought, the knowledge, festered in the back of his mind like mold unchecked under bathroom floorboards for weeks until it finally creeped into the forefront of his thoughts.

Danny had started making plans not long before Thanksgiving break, thinking through the steps it would take to wipe his existence away. He knew early on that it would have to be a full, clean break. He didn’t want to leave any doubt about his intentions or grant those who knew his whole identity false hope about his return to the mortal realm.

He also wanted his parents to know he was gone.

A disappearance was wiped off the planning board in his mind early on. To disappear would leave loose ends. His parents would pull and tug at those ends until they unraveled God knew what. Danny couldn’t leave them with that what if.

But how to do it?

How could he prove he was dead without leaving behind a body? The question plagued him for a while until late one night over fall break he had been pacing about his room. Danny had picked up a stress ball from his childhood bedroom’s desk and squeezed it, going back and forth across the hardwood floor.

At some point he’d tossed the ball and without thinking a clone had appeared to catch it, as natural as breathing.

He’d gotten much better at making them over the years and while he still didn’t think he could keep as many up and running at once as Vlad could he could produce one or two with detailed accuracy and articulation and keep that cloning up for long periods of time.

He’d looked at himself, tossed the ball back and forth between his hands in a game of mirror-me catch as the wheels in his mind had spun.

How long could he keep up a clone?

Under what conditions could he hold it?

How far away could he be from a clone while still sustaining it?

Danny had begun a nearly two month long round of testing. Hidden away from his friends he began to experiment with what his clones could take, how stable he could make just one because that was all he needed.

One body. One death.

Over Christmas break was when he’d begun to get violent with them.

From Thanksgiving through December and college finals he’d just tested range and general stability, but towards the tail end of the holidays he’d begun his experiments in earnest.

He lied about patrols, choosing instead to see how many wounds he could inflict on a clone before it disintegrated. He found their tolerance to be just a bit lower than his own, it was a noticeable difference, but they were still far hardier than full humans.

The first night back from winter break he’d left one of his clones in a secluded spot and slowly walked away from it. He’d gone back to the apartment, focused on keeping the clone up while doing other things like talking to his friends and doing his homework for the new semester, all the while slowly but steadily receiving input from his clone until finally in the early hours of the next morning, his clone had stopped giving him feedback.

He’d returned to the spot in the woods where he’d left it, finding to his honest shock that it hadn’t disintegrated fully upon death, frozen solid from the winter night its form had held. It wasn’t perfect, but it was noticeable progress in making his death convincing.

Now he just had to figure out how to keep his clone somewhat alive, just alive enough to not disintegrate once it was warmed up by whoever would inevitably find him.

With practice and a bit of library research he learned that slowing the heart rate of his clone would preserve it in cold, prevent it from fully dying and disintegrating while the cold decreased the amount of overall energy he would have to put into the body.

Near the end of January Danny felt that he had practiced enough.

It had become mechanical, simple. He didn’t think of his clones as anything other than a body whose use was to be determined and as the day he planned to leave got closer he started wondering morosely if that were true for him too.

A lot of the spark he’d held when he was younger was fading and with it came a weight he hadn’t been able to shake free from for longer than he’d admit. He wasn’t sure when it started, but maybe Sam had been right, maybe he did need a therapist.

Too late for that now.

He sat up in bed, he’d been staring at the ceiling for some time and he figured there was no use waiting any longer.

He stood, tugging on his clothes, sneakers, and a jacket, pocketing his wallet, keys, and phone, all things that would help identify him when it came time. He phased through the apartment, choosing not to risk opening any doors or touching the floor.

Lake Mendota was a little ways off, so for a while he stuck to flying, letting the cold air of the early morning wrap around him, swimming through his hair and over his tired form.

He hadn’t left any kind of note behind, figuring that was for the best.

It was easier to be there one day and gone the other.

His friends would wake up and it would be as if he’d just been a long, bad dream.

Danny wanted that.

He wanted them to move on like he hadn’t existed in the first place, or perhaps like he had truly died back in that portal all those years ago.

As he approached the lake he found that he felt far heavier than he ever had. His neck hurt, he ran his hand over it and tilted his head, listening to the cricks as they half popped in that unsatisfactory manner, a promise left unfulfilled and empty.

He hummed, dissatisfied as he landed and shifted back into his human body. The heavy smattering of leaves off Maple’s Bluff didn't crunch under his feet, instead, ladened with snow they flattened, half congealed beneath his weight.

He took a deep breath in, held it, then let it out slow, watching the mist coil up into the air until it disappeared.

When he was a child he would gulp down his breath, puff up his cheeks and hold it as long as he could stand before letting it out all at once. He used to pretend he was a dragon as he did, fantasize that he was some great, unconquerable beast.

On the edge of the lake there was a rock, tall and wide, it stood covered in snow, ice, and moss. Water lapped at its edges and as Danny climbed onto it to sit down he found himself thinking that of all the places he’d ever sat to look out over the world this was the best place.

The dawn was beginning to seep into the night, the sky turning a soft, almost unnoticeable purple grey that stole the stars from the Milky Way.

There were far worse places to die.

There was something about a quiet world that simply wasn’t, something about the outside that thrummed with just enough movement for him to know that it continued that Danny appreciated.

Silence in its totality was unnatural, unnerving, and oppressive. It was not meant to exist and so the world around him shifted.

He closed his eyes and let the coming morning speak for itself, it would be his only witness after all.

The wind rustled through what leaves still clung, crumbled to their branches, the waves of the lake lapped in and out against the sand and stone beach in soft, but dutiful repetitions.

Behind him a few of the animals Danny had scared away upon his appearance had started to poke their heads from their hiding places. In the spring this place would be full of squirrels, mice, and rabbits, but for now he mostly heard the birds, hopping along the tree branches.

It was nice, it was quiet in a way that filled the hollow at the top of his chest, nice in a way that he could accept that he was here in this moment, in this place. It was the feeling of inconsequential smallness that brought with it an overwhelming tranquility towards what happened next.

The sun peeked over the horizon, framing the view in deep oranges and yellows that shone through the smattering of clouds drifting lazily in the winter wind.

It turned the world into a mirror, in the places where ice did not cover the late, where waves moved lazy, half stiff with cold, the sky reflected its colors.

The temperature was set to drop several degrees in the coming days and the ice floats of the lake would overtake the water, but for now Danny was glad he could see the wide, imperfect mirror of Mendota.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat for, watching the sky change, the coming half warmth of the winter day stirring up a soft breeze that moved across the water. He closed his eyes again, hands meeting in his lap. They felt foreign, his fingers cold and stiff and almost alien, uncanny in their not quite familiarity. He hadn’t been this quiet with himself in a long time, finding it odd to feel how he truly was just a mind stuck in a body. He used to climb on top of the bathroom counter in his parent’s master bath where it could take his weight and stare at himself, stare at his eyes and wonder at the mind beneath in the solitary awe that came with understanding one’s own consciousness.

But he wasn’t here to understand that today.

A second set of cold hands wrapped around his own and he sighed, opening his eyes to find a clone before him.

Their fingers interlaced and he stood from the rock.

His clone stepped out into the icy water, taking Danny with him as they walked, facing each other into the lake. They didn’t go far, only a few inches, cold lapping over their sneakers to soak into white socks he’d picked up from a local store.

He’d heard somewhere that if you dunked your entire body all at once into cold water you’d adjust faster and retain more body heat and now he wished he'd tried it once. Maybe he would in a hundred years or so when he was ready to come back.

For now though he just let the water wash over his feet and up the sides of his ankles, the fabric of jeans weighing him down.

The clone let go of his hands and he moved to dig around in his pockets, pulling out his keys, wallet, and phone. He gave them all to the other him, ensuring that he would be easily identified when the ice melted and his body was discovered.

Now came the hard part. He knew he couldn’t just kill himself. A murder with no signs of struggle and also no signs of drugging would be suspicious and he didn’t want that. He wanted to be dead, end of sentence, end of thought.

Beyond them never finding his killer Danny didn’t want things to be complicated. He didn’t want his parents to wonder what he had done in his last moments. He wanted them to think he’d tried to stay, to think he was still the son they thought they knew. He didn’t want it to be any more complex than that while still sending a strong message to his friends and those that knew the truth about him that he wasn’t coming back.

He took a deep breath and reached out, snatching the front of his clone’s jacket hard and beginning.

Fighting a clone was always an interesting dance. The more he wanted to win the more his clone would want to as a result, operating two bodies at once meant finding the ebb and flow in thoughts and intentions. A clone of himself was in essence a nearly perfect recreation of him; however, it did not have its own brain. It had his all at once and in its entirety.

In this manner cloning was a bit like having a computer with two screens. The computer itself was a singular entity, but the screens could run multiple different programs which could be accessed at different times and serve different purposes.

That was why even years after he’d received his powers he still found himself baffled by the sheer amount of clones Vlad could keep running reliably at any given time, granting said clones seemingly high amounts of autonomy. It was as if the man could simply process more data than him, filing it away faster while he multitasked to produce seamless carbon copies.

This ability though, to have a clone act on his emotions would aid him in making this murder realistic. Danny let the instinct to keep fighting take over even as he moved to kill, initiating in one swift second a violent back and forth.

His fingers curled around his clone’s jacket, pulling him close, spinning him around to throw him off balance.

The clone grabbed back, used the momentum Danny had created against him, causing them to tumble into the cold water.

Danny was pinned now, his clone on top of him, jaw clenched as he lifted his hands to his neck. His clone pressed down, fingers wrapping around his throat, obscuring the soul lines as if he meant to discard them along with his life and in a way that was an honest action.

His clone covering the bonds he’d made, both intentional and unintentional, struck him as he was shoved under the water and forced to choke.

It sparked an anger in him, long suppressed and acidic, burning out from inside his chest as he kicked himself up and away, letting those thoughts and feelings finally come to the forefront of his mind, awake and enraged.

He shouldn’t have to do this.

He shouldn’t have to give up everything!

But he had too, he was going to lose his friends and his family, everything he’d worked for. He was going to live forever and for what?

All because he was an idiot.

All because he’d walked into the portal because he’d wanted to show off, because he’d thought it was cool.

This was his fault.

This was all his stupid, fucking fault. If he had just stopped, just for one moment, one second and thought he wouldn’t have half died, wouldn’t have become this horrid amalgamation of a being forced to live on forever.

His clone shoved off him, Danny stumbled on his feet before yelling, the scream ripping raw from his throat to echo across the lake.

If he hadn’t been so fucking stupid he could have lived with Sam and Tucker! He could have had a fairly normal life! He could have avoided all the pain, all the injuries and late nights! He wouldn’t have watched as his family died at the hands of Dan, fuck he wouldn’t even have to think about Dan! He wouldn’t have to be constantly terrified of what lay inside him, of the truth of the damage he could inflict on others.

“You did this!” Danny snapped, kicking his clone hard in the chest.

All the fighting, the fate and weight of the world, all of it had been placed on his shoulders and he said he was a hero, but that didn’t mean he liked it, that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

He kicked himself again before his clone could stand, “I was fourteen!”

Fourteen, he’d been a freshman in high school who should have been worrying about his math test or what to wear to the homecoming dance, or learning to drive in a few years, or trying out weed or fuck, fuck anything normal!

“You did this to me!” Tears were filling his eyes, his clone stood and swung at him, striking him hard across the face, blood bloomed over his upper lip. The clone swung again, but he sidestepped to return the punch.

The clone’s jaw popped at the hit, clicking audibly as he grit his teeth, all the anger and hatred Danny held inside of him reflected in those eyes. The clone ran forwards catching him around the middle and squeezing, pushing him back, but Danny widened his stance.

Hands clawed at his back, his clone speaking now with the thoughts boiling over in their shared mind, “You did this! You went in that portal! You stood up and fought even when no one deserved it and now look at you!”

Danny did look, he looked down at his clone, with such hatred and contempt that he didn’t think he’d ever looked at an enemy with. He lifted a hand, bringing it down to clutch his clone's right arm. Fingers clenching tight he twisted, pushing abhuman strength into the action until his clone screamed, his humerus shattering into pieces.

In the haze of pain he too could feel Danny yanked the clone away, swinging him by his broken arm to slam him down into the water. He could feel how it ached, how the bones in the other boy’s arm ground against one another, biting into the muscles around them. He leered over himself, “I didn’t ask for much, a sort of normal life, soulmates who cared about me, maybe a job in the sciences. Not this! Never this!”

He leaned over, grabbing a large rock from the lake shore, stalking over to his clone who was still recovering. He dropped down, pinning himself against the shore, water freezing his clone’s hair stiff. Danny lifted the rock high above his head, his clone reached up, scratching harshly at the parts of him he could reach as Danny swung the rock down in an arc to slam it against the clone’s forehead.

A harsh crack washed over the sounds of their harsh breathing, ringing and absolute.

The clone howled as his skull was spit open, blood boiling to the surface of his ruined skin.

Danny could feel the pain reflected in his mind, the clone’s sensory input loud, but far from overwhelming. He’d had worse.

He brought the rock up again, blood dripping across his hands where he gripped it, sliding down his arms, staining his shirt as he began a violent repetition. The rock collided with his clone’s head over and over again as Danny spoke, letting all that had frustrated and frightened him over the too long years seep from his pores.

Being scared of his own parents.

Being terrified of Dan.

Watching his family and friends die.

Knowing that he’d outlive them even if he did everything right.

Fighting with the one person who could have understood.

All the sleepless nights.

All the injuries and pain and suffering.

Having to save the world over and over again.

He told his clone all of it, cried about what had been stolen from him, about the life that had died in the ghost portal at fourteen while his body had carried on.

“I hate you!” By now he wasn’t sure which version of him said it, energy crackling around him in lighting like waves, white and bright green ripping across his surface and lashing across their shared and shattered forms.

It lit up the world, pulsed across the water and burned them like it had in the portal, it seared long lashes into them, melting their shirts into their skin in crisscrossing haphazard patterns.

“I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!”

He was sobbing, screaming and crying and fighting in the blood soaked water, in the ozone filled air and Danny knew that he had been doing this for far longer than even he could admit.

“I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!”

He’d been fighting himself, tearing himself apart since long before this lake, since long before the party at Vlad’s and at this point he didn’t know how to stop.

He wasn’t sure how long he went on for…

Above him the sky lightened considerably and below him his clone’s skull was a mess, the information coming from his second body’s senses cutting in and out in slow, pulsing waves that thrummed like a tension headache through his neck and up under his eyes.

Danny dragged in a harsh breath as the arms that had clawed at him, clung to him, fell away in a limp slide to the lake water. His clone wheezed, the motion stuttering and painful. He was on the edge of unconsciousness. It was time.

Closing his eyes Danny gave all of his focus to his clone body, all of his energy and thought, letting the pain of what he’d done wash over him. He dropped the rock, letting it fall with a crash to the water, tipping his head back to let the warmth of the sun glow red beneath his eyelids.

He sat there for a long moment, letting the adrenaline leave him, letting the world seep back into his bones, it’s weight wrapping around him. Tears pressed cold to his cheeks, but for now, for once in a long while, he felt relieved.

Finding the beat of his clone’s heart was easy and in a way, deeply calming as he slowed the pulse down to a near undetectable level. When the body was found he’d lower it further, make it to where he could be officially confirmed dead and then bring it back up when he wasn’t being watched or poked or prodded, but for now a nice slow beat was the easiest to maintain.

Slowly the clone fell asleep, eyes closing as Danny stood watching as it curled up tiredly. He needed a good rest, but he couldn’t take it yet. He’d have to wait until the clone froze over, just to make sure everything went right.

He stepped back, transforming into Phantom and turning intangible as he returned to sit on the rock

* * *

He sat there, watching the sun rise and set as he guarded his body. Being partially dead meant that he didn’t technically need to eat or do much of anything while in his ghost form, so it was easy after a while to simply exist by the lake.

Danny watched as the water rose around his body, freezing him in centimeters and inches, lacing his hair and fingers in soft crystals.

By nightfall the temperature had plummeted and as the stars scattered the sky Daniel Fenton froze solid underneath a layer of ice, sinking down, heavy into the water and mud, exhausted.

Danny let himself rest, found a tree with sturdy branches and leaned against the trunk, tucked away above ground as he listened to the world move on without him.

* * *

Days passed and then a week, then after almost a month of waiting and watching, of guarding his body and pacing the beach, the dogs came.

Tugging at their leashes they pressed their noses to the ground as Danny watched, leaning down from one of his favorite spots in a nearby maple tree. There had been a few warm days in a row and as the dogs came to the rock he had first sat on they began to signal to the agents behind them in their big, puffy winter jackets.

After all the waiting the day he was found seemed to fly by in a blur of motion. They taped off his body and called experts to the scene. It was like watching one of the crime dramas Jazz liked so much. They took pictures, laid down little placards with numbers on them, poked and prodded his clone looking for evidence.

Eventually they picked him up, laying him down on a stretcher and wheeling him away, covering his body in a white, milk film body bag.

Danny followed behind, trailing them as he was brought to a lab to be inspected. It was odd, he’d spent so long worrying that his parents would strap him to a table and dissect and yet here he was, offering his clone’s body up willingly to the process as his murder was investigated.

He learned to sleep through it, to focus on keeping his heartbeat undetectable, keeping his blood in place and his organs as frozen as if still encased in ice and drift off. It was easier that way. Being properly awake and aware meant feeling foreign hands on his body, the press of the scalpel during the autopsy.

Danny distanced himself from it, from all feeling and thought, curling quiet in the vents above his dead body.

The funeral was the worst part.

He didn’t watch, he couldn’t bring himself to, but his clone managed to pick up bits and pieces of what was said as he lingered far underground, suppressing his ectosignature as much as possible as to not tip Vlad off to his location. The other halfa had never been as good at detecting other ghosts as he was, but he knew he’d be alert and waiting for any signs. He couldn’t give Vlad an inch because if he did the man would take a mile.

He drowned the voices of his family out, pushed them to the back of his mind and told himself over and over that this was for the best. They needed to live without him, have their own lives. He couldn’t drag Sam and Tucker and everyone else around forever, he couldn’t ask them to sacrifice anymore than they already had. His friends and sister worried over him constantly and they deserved far better than the burden he’d become. They were sad now, but in a few years they’d look back and see what Danny saw now. They would understand.

Amidst the sad voices an all too familiar one pressed into his senses, Vlad loomed over his clone and when he spoke there was an anger greater than any Danny had heard him express before in his quiet voice.

"You’re selfish. You're immature. You're the most stuck up, dramatic, self centered, brat I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting and y-”

Danny rolled his eyes and shoved Vlad’s voice away, forcing his clone to tune it out. Where did that guy get off calling him selfish and dramatic, had he looked in a mirror at all in the years he’d been gone?

Vlad was a damned hypocrite and Danny didn’t want to hear it.

If he never saw the man again it would be too soon, even if that did mean he’d be stuck bearing a half completed soul line for the rest of eternity.

* * *

And so Danny Fenton hid himself away.

With his clone buried he let himself disintegrate to nothing and left for the ghost zone. As predicted Clockwork had been expecting him and when Danny had said he was cashing in a favor Clockwork hadn’t protested.

Danny had known he wouldn’t. His friend let others take their own paths, good or bad and although he knew what would come of Danny’s decision he didn’t say anything and Danny appreciated that.

He promised Clockwork that if he ever needed him to fix something wrong in the timeline, like another Dan or some other equally ridiculous threat, that he would gladly return to deal with it and Clockwork assured him that he would hold Danny to his word before tucking the halfa away in the past where no one would look for him.

In the past he didn’t have to worry about being found or making connections with others. He didn’t exist yet, wouldn’t for years. Around his wrist he wore an analog clock with a brown leather strap and if he ever wanted to come back to his present Clockwork had instructed him to press and hold the dial on the side for ten seconds.

He assured Clockwork that he wouldn’t need it and for months as he made himself a new life in a small rural town in Wisconsin he had thought that would be true, but one snowy day, standing outside the small cabin he was living in, two soul marks around his neck disappeared and he knew that his friends had moved on.

He’d always hated Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeey everybody,
> 
> Hope you're all doin good, hope ya liked.
> 
> Sorry this was like a heavy chapter and a flashback. I felt like it was important to really flesh out Danny's character and give him a bit more background before moving into Part 3 which as mentioned in the summary starts in the next chapter, chap 8. This is where Danny and Vlad will start coming to terms with their individual issues and with each other.
> 
> So yes the sweet, sweet fluff and yearning content is coming thank you for being patient <3 
> 
> I need to make them suffer before I can make them happy, that’s just the rules.
> 
> Kudos and comments much appreciated. Honestly you guys the amount of feedback and comments I’ve gotten on this fic is wile and I love it so much. I had no idea I’d get this kind of interaction for a fic about a show that was on when I was a kid. So thank you guys so much, it means a lot <3


	8. Every good intention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some overdue conversations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to part 3 everyone I hope you enjoy your stay.

* * *

Ten months after Danny Fenton’s ‘death’.  
Early Christmas morning

* * *

Danny appeared over Fentonworks, forming back into the cold December air above the bright glow of his family’s trademark fluorescent lights. He sighed, he hadn’t thought he’d be here again so soon, but having seen Amity from Vlad’s window he’d been unable to disappear again quite yet. He wanted to see his family again, he missed them.

Yes, he knew it was best for him to stay away, smarter, but he wasn’t strong enough. After all that had happened that night, the pain, stress, and fear, he gave himself just enough room to indulge.

The ghost shield was on so he let himself transform back into a human after carefully making sure he wasn’t being watched or recorded. His feet landed gently on the roof, the familiar space feeling larger and more empty than it ever had before.

He stepped to the edge, looking down to the street he’d grown up on, remembering hot summer days and learning how to ride a bike, how he and Sam and Tucker would play on the sidewalk and get yelled at if they wandered out into the road.

Going ghost once again Danny phased through the ceiling, carefully minimizing his ectosignature so he didn’t set off any stray devices, the last thing he needed was for his parents to see Phantom.

Floating about the house he poked his head into Jazz’s room. She was asleep, hair messed up and still wet from a shower as she cuddled Valerie close, the other girl pressed lovingly against her side, nose buried against her neck where their bond lines had lengthened since Danny had last seen it.

Danny smiled, he was glad the pair were still happy together.

He wanted to wonder what they thought of him, knowing what he was, but he didn’t let his mind wander into the idea. If he did he wouldn’t be able to leave the house. For now it was best to look and digest the emotions later.

Pulling away from Jazz’s room he found the master bedroom, standing just a few inches off the ground at the doorway. Light from a ghost shaped night light poured in from the hall, washing their forms in a soft green glow not too unlike his own.

They’d installed the night lights for him and Jazz and had never stopped using them, even now with him dead and Jazz away at college most of the year. It was bittersweet.

He was sorry, truly, for what he had done. He understood that he had caused them pain. Danny didn’t need Vlad to tell him that. His parent’s grief was a given; he’d heard bits and pieces of their conversations at his funeral. He knew they had cried for him, likely still did, but being sorry didn’t mean he regretted it.

Danny didn’t want them to ever find out what had happened to him, what their inventions had led to. Besides, he didn’t think he could face them now, show up on their doorstep and admit to the pain he had put them through.

He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, listening to his dad snore, watching them.

He wished in that moment that he was young again, that he was a child and had come to his parent’s room after a bad dream. He wished he could clutch his space themed blanket in hand and rub his eyes and linger by the door frame before calling out to them.

His mom would get up and kneel down and ask him what was wrong and he’d tell them he’d had a nightmare. She would scoop him up into her warm, strong arms and he’d bury his face against her chest and cry softly until he was too tired to keep his eyes open any longer. She’d lay him down next to his dad and then get into bed with them, their two bodies forming a wall that could keep the entire world at bay.

But this, this wasn’t a bad dream. No matter how much he longed to wake up one morning and find that he was a normal person it was never going to happen. He didn’t have the comfort of such naivety any longer.

“I love you mom… I love you dad,” he spoke softly, not wishing to rouse them, but needing to say the words he’d neglected to say before he’d left.

Tears burned in his eyes as he turned away, knowing he couldn’t stay any longer.

Leaving the house he flew until he came to Sam’s place, the house still warm and lit up for Hanukkah. The whole place smelled like homemade meals and soft blankets.  
He couldn’t count the days he’d spent here, lounging about, watching movies in the Manson family home theater. For so long things had been so easy and he’d taken it all for granted.

In Sam’s room he found his friend, curled up in a black comforter and smiling the soft smile he knew she only wore when she was asleep. He could see Tucker’s mark around her neck, his own now long gone and it hurt.

It hurt more than it had in his cabin in the past in Wisconsin, it hurt more than when he’d drank at the Christmas truce party, and it hurt more than all the times he had imagined it happening combined. He wanted this, Danny reminded himself sternly, chastising himself for his selfish thoughts, but it didn’t change anything, not really. He had wanted so badly to be in a trio with Sam and Tucker and now it was never going to happen.

He had known, of course, that his friends would finish their bond lines without him. It was an inevitability, but no amount of preparation could soothe the harsh edges of his regret and anger at having been denied that life.

Danny didn’t spend long at Sam’s house and when he flew towards Tucker’s place he knew he wouldn’t spend long there either. It was too painful.

Tucker’s room was a mess, but that was to be expected. His friend was crumpled over a shiny new computer, the glow of the screen cascading over him, “You really should take better care of yourself,” Danny said softly, laughing a bit at the irony in his words.

Carefully he picked Tucker up and lowered him into his bed, knowing he wouldn’t remember having fallen asleep at his desk. If he woke up in bed he would assume that at some point he had risen in a haze from his work and stumbled into the covers. It wouldn’t be the first time after all.

He tucked Tucker in, giving his friend a small smile before moving to leave. However, as he did he looked back at the computer and noticed something off.

On the screen was a logo in the upper left corner of the document Tucker was working on. When Danny floated over to investigate it he recognized the symbol marking the work as a document from Vlad’s own lab.

Danny narrowed his eyes. If Tucker was breaking into Vlad’s laboratory files then he would have needed a much better setup than a laptop. He knew that from experience. He and his friends had broken in once or twice, particularly to find out more about the clones Vlad had been making. The process had been extremely difficult, the other halfa knowing well how to defend his research. They had needed several computers to sneak into the system and even then they hadn’t been able to stay long.

Yet here Tucker was, falling asleep while looking over Vlad’s files.

He had to have been there with permission.

Danny’s fingers itched to flip through the work, to dive into the programs, but he didn’t. If anyone would be able to tell his computer had been messed with while he was asleep it would be Tucker and although he may not remember getting up to go to bed he certainly would remember the work he’d been doing before he nodded off. Danny couldn’t take the risk.

Still, he couldn’t help but wonder what was going on, the question taking root inside of him as he left and flew back across Amity.

He wished he could stop by Danielle’s place, but her ghost senses were particularly strong and getting anywhere near her territory would spell disaster so he gave her a wide berth, trying not to think of what Vlad had said to him about her searching for him in the ghost zone.

Why did Vlad care about all that anyway? Wasn’t he happy Danny was gone? He could come back to Amity and flirt with his mom all he wanted and do essentially whatever he pleased. Although whatever he pleased seemed to currently be looking for him and allowing Tucker to have remote access to his sensitive lab documents.

It didn’t add up.

He wanted to go back in time, to tuck himself away and hide as he’d intended too, but he couldn’t with the nagging thoughts of change that seemed to hound at him. Vlad had been different at the party. He’d been different in the bathroom too when Danny had cleaned Vlad’s wounds. Although that may have just been the blunt force trauma.

Nonetheless Danny knew something was going on and he didn’t like it, so grumbling at himself about his old superhero habits he returned rather unhappily to Vlad’s mansion, situating himself on the roof as dawn drew near, telling himself that if things went south again he’d run.

He didn’t need any more fighting, he’d had enough for hundreds of years.

* * *

When Vlad woke up Christmas morning he felt stiff and heavy. He tossed an arm over his face and grumbled, turning to his side, intent on curling up under his covers. However, as he did this he realized two things. The first was that he wasn’t under his covers at all and the second was that he was still wearing his shoes.

He sat up slowly, eyebrows knitting together as he rubbed his hand across his face and drug his fingers through the tangled strands of his hair. He winced as he pulled, finding his scalp to be extremely sensitive and as that thought crossed the threshold of his mind he paused, gasp catching in his throat as the night before came back to him.

Daniel… he’d been at the truce party, the two had gotten into an argument. Daniel had been drunk, he’d been terribly malicious, Vlad had attacked first but Phantom had knowingly and viciously goaded him into it using Jack and Maddie’s voices to inflict pain. They’d fought, violently, more so than ever before.

Vlad rubbed his face groggily as he tried to put the next few blurry steps together, taking slow stock of how his body felt.

He’d passed out after Daniel had pinned him, the other man cracking his skull open and rendering him helpless. He’d half awoken back in his bathroom, vision blurry and in more pain than he’d been in in a long while. Daniel’s hands had been on him, tugging off his jacket and shirt. Something warm had washed over him and he’d almost passed back out before a desperation had risen in him. He had known in the way you know things while dreaming, in that not quite space of sleep and reality, that the warmth around him was fleeting even when it shouldn’t be.

_‘Stay.’_

He’d asked, told, Daniel to stay. Had wrapped his arms around him as if he could force him and although the other halfa had eventually agreed, Vlad found himself alone in his bed.

He could remember Daniel sitting down beside him, angry but quiet, and something not quite unlike happiness had washed over him.

Then he’d woken up, sore as the sun rose through his window.

Vlad sighed, telling himself quietly that there was no point in letting what had happened get to him. He had tried to bring Daniel home, he had failed. Daniel had made it exceedingly clear that he didn’t intend to come back and beyond that… well, Vlad wasn’t sure if he knew who Daniel was anymore. The months had changed the both of them it seemed.

He kicked his shoes off with a stretch, couldn’t Daniel have at least made him more comfortable? He wasn’t asking for the other man to fully undress him, far from it, but he could have at least taken off his shoes and belt. That much was only courteous considering what had happened.

Standing from the bed Vlad stretched again, arms raising over his head as he tensed, trying to force all the soreness from his body with a deep breath that burned along his side muscles before heading to his bathroom for a much needed shower.

The place reeked, the smell of ectoplasm and blood in the air nearly oppressive as he looked at the mess on the counters. Ectoplasm sat half dried and congealed against the sink and there were a few spatters here and there along the floor. Peaking into the hamper Vlad saw that his clothes were also thoroughly ruined. He might as well incinerate them. Getting ectoplasm out of fabric was more trouble than it was worth.

He didn’t pay much attention to his reflection in the mirror, focusing more on cleaning up quietly and stripping down to jump in the shower. He knew he’d look like hell after the beating he’d received, there was no point to rubbing salt in the wounds.

The hot water felt like heaven as it hit his back, Vlad letting out a pleasured sigh as he tilted his neck, letting the shower work out the knots there. Most of the ectoplasm had already been washed off his body and if he wasn’t so angry with Daniel he might have been thankful for what clean up the younger had done, but as it stood he wasn’t feeling particularly forgiving towards him.

He washed his hair, placing a small quarter sized drop of shampoo into his hand and running it through the silver strands then following up with some conditioner. He hummed softly as he did, an old habit he’d never quite gotten rid of, as he washed the rest of his body while he waited for his conditioner to be done working its usual magic.

The smell of the soaps and the warmth of steam soon relaxed him and despite his conflicted emotions over what had transpired just a few hours earlier Vlad found himself settling into a relative calm. He knew deep down that he should be far more upset and part of him wondered if he was merely suppressing his emotions and then lying to himself about how he felt and that was probably true, but he wasn’t in the mood to investigate or entertain those thoughts.

Daniel could do what he wanted. If he wanted to be a selfish brat who lashed out at others then that was his business.

He got out of the shower with a veneer of false confidence, self assured that he was over how idiotic Daniel had acted. He didn’t want to be looked for, fine. He wanted to go on hurting people Vlad cared about, fine.

It was fine.

Standing in front of the mirror Vlad gently dried his hair as to avoid getting split ends. It was then that he saw his line, about an inch or so longer than he last remembered it. He ran his fingers over his throat with a soft sigh. At this rate he and Daniel would complete their lines whether they liked it or not.

Perhaps it was an inevitability. Even if Daniel avoided him, they were immortal. Logically they would run into each other unwittingly enough times over the course of forever to secure their bond.

“Troublesome,” he grumbled to himself, finding that no matter where Daniel was, no matter how old he was, no matter if they were even interacting actively, Daniel was and always would be a bother.

Padding over to his walk in closet Vlad pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a Packers Jersey. It was Christmas for God’s sake he wasn’t going to wear his suit. He was going to laze about on the couch and watch Christmas specials with his cat and probably visit Jack and Maddie that afternoon.

However, as he moved to leave his room and head to the kitchen to make himself some breakfast he froze as an ectosignature made itself known to him, forming slowly into existence on his roof.

Vlad looked up as if he could see what ghost had appeared, confusion washing over him. The ghost hadn’t flown in from town or come in through the ghost portal. No, it had simply seemed to pop into being on his roof.

He frowned, he didn’t need any trouble today, last night had been more than enough. Still, he didn’t want anyone lingering about when he was trying to relax, knowing himself well enough to know that he wouldn’t be able to unwind with the persistent feeling of someone nearby. He was after all deeply territorial and having someone hanging around the center of his territory, his mansion, was unacceptable.

Familiar rings of white light wrapped around his body, pulling apart to transform him into Plasmius with a tired sigh. Could he get a break, just one, that would be nice.

Arms crossed over his chest he floated up to the roof, ready to tell whoever it was to go away, only to freeze, heels clicking against the tiled roof as he stopped floating out of surprise.

There, only a few feet away, on top of his home, was Daniel Fenton… well, Phantom, but that didn't matter because he had stayed.

He had stayed.

Something in Vlad’s chest tightened and he wanted to smile, could feel the tug of it, but he also wanted to yell, wanted to stalk over and demand an explanation for all that had happened.

“Daniel…”

The word was spoken in the same way he’d said it at the truce party, in that soft, barely angry way that Vlad wished could sound stronger than it was, stronger than he felt.

Daniel turned to him, looking ethereal under the slowly brightening sky of the early morning, soft white light illuminating his form from the glow of his hair.

He was tucked in on himself, sitting on the edge of the roof, knees curled to his chest, arms over his legs and when he spoke he did so in his own voice and without any anger.

“Vladimir.”

Vlad took a step forward, second guessed himself, then stopped. He found once again that he didn’t know what to say, what to do. He’d been given a second chance to convince Daniel to come back and yet again he was left floundering.

“You stayed…”

Daniel shook his head and Vlad tensed, knowing what he was going to say before he said it, “I’m not going to.”

Of course he wasn’t. Of course he was going to run away again and leave Vlad to wonder how he was supposed to look Jack and Maddie in the eyes and console them through their grief all while knowing he had recently seen Daniel, had spoken to him.

“Then why are you here?” A bit of his anger spilled into the words even as he tried to tamp it down, knowing it would be a mistake to argue, but he couldn’t help it. Why would Daniel linger on his roof if he knew he was going to leave again? It wasn’t as if he cared about what Vlad had to say, he’d proven that well enough at the truce party.

“I have a question,” It was a simple answer, cut and dry. Daniel let it hang in the air for a long while, snow falling to filter around them. “Why are you letting Tucker see your lab files.”

How did Daniel know about that? Vlad’s mind ran through the possibilities until he remembered the other halfa’s tendency to snoop. He must have paid his friends an unplanned visit.

“If you must know, Mr. Foley and I have begun working together rather regularly in my lab,” Vlad said, deciding to shift and sit down a few feet away from Daniel, not wanting to give him the impression that he was looking menacingly over him, “It’s easier to work when we have the same access, I don’t have to send him special permissions.”

Daniel looked at him suspiciously, but Vlad had expected as much and didn’t shy away from his gaze, “Since when do you and Tucker work together?

“It’s nearly been a year Daniel, a lot can happen.”

“An actual answer, Plasmius.”

Vlad sighed, “Your parents are convinced that Phantom was the one who killed you. I don’t know if you remember me telling you that last night given your… state.”

Daniel looked away from him, jaw clenching tight. He did remember that. Vlad watched as his fingers flexed into a fist and he noticed just how tense the younger was, how angry.

“We began working together to sabotage their latest invention, a Speeder capable of exploring farther into the ghost zone. We knew you didn’t want to be found; you made that quite clear.”

Danny flinched at the passive aggressive tone Vlad’s voice took on, guilt threatening to rise up the back of his throat like a bad heartburn, “Why would you help them with that?”

It was easy to understand why Sam and Tucker would try to stop his parents from finding Phantom, they’d been helping him out in similar ways for years. If his parents managed to capture and dissect him then his identity could come out and that would be especially awkward given their current circumstances.

“It was mutually beneficial,” Vlad said with a shrug, getting a glare from Daniel that meant he wanted him to elaborate. “I want Jack and Maddie to stop obsessing over finding you, I want them to move on, maybe get some sleep after what you did to them. Your friends don’t want your parents finding out about what you are. In a similar vein I didn’t want them to know either, about the both of us. It wasn’t a pain I thought they could handle.”

“It’s not like you would have to tell them,” Danny grumbled, face pressed against his knees, “And where the hell do you get off acting like you give a shit about their feelings, hurting them like you have. You left too.”

“Jack and Maddie are, as I am still reluctant to admit in the case of your father, highly intelligent,” Vlad hummed, slowly transforming back into his human form. Despite the lingering anger in their voices it didn’t seem like Daniel intended to fight and the shift was an olive branch he extended between them, “They tore two rifts in reality for Ancient’s sake, they would have put two and two together before long, what with me having been in the hospital for years after my portal incident.”

He frowned at the last half of Daniel’s thought, in a way he was right. Vlad had left and it wasn’t as if he’d cared before about how Jack and Maddie felt. “ They weren’t well after your death. I didn’t like seeing them like that and it's not… it's not like they didn’t leave me either…”

The statement hung in the air between them and although Vlad had become human again Daniel remained in his ghost form, glowing green eyes seeming to become lighter as the morning arrived properly, their appearance growing less stark against the world around them.

“You have to come back.”

“You just said you don’t think they could handle the pain of knowing what happened to us.”

“No,” Vlad shook his head, starting to find that the space between them on the roof was too wide, his voice too quiet as if it didn’t want to float across the air that separated them, “I said I hadn’t thought they were, especially if they caught you and took you to their lab. But maybe if you came to them and explained everything t-”

“It’s not that simple Vlad,” Danny cut him off with a shake of his head, a small laugh that had Vlad glaring at him escaping his chest, “Since when are you the optimistic one?”

“It’s not like I’m saying it’s going to be easy, it's just that… Daniel I’m trying t-”

“To what, Vlad? Put yourself back into their lives when you know damn well that you don’t deserve it?” Danny asked, standing and looking down at Vlad in a way that made the elder halfa want to shrink back. He had thought they weren’t going to fight. “Even if I wanted to come back I couldn’t. It’s not safe.”

Vlad was thrown by the shift in the conversation. He had expected Daniel to go on one of his old rants about how he was a self serving fruitloop who was only interested in what other people could do for him. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t lose anyone,” Danny confessed, his heart starting to pick up in his chest. He’d never imagined himself telling Vlad this. This was something he kept buried inside of himself. He didn’t even talk to Sam or Tucker about it, not since it had happened, “If I felt my soulmates die it would…”

How was he supposed to say this, to make this point? Where did he start? It was all so complicated. Everything in his damn afterlife was complicated and he was so, so tired of it.

Despite having to leave his family and friends behind the ten months he’d spent in the past had been Heaven. He hadn’t thought he would like it, but he loved it.

He loved the quiet of it.

He missed everyone, sure, but the cabin he lived in was an oasis.

At first he’d been scared he would have a hard time adjusting, but then he’d found a farm that had a sign out front that had said they needed a farmhand. When he’d knocked on the old screen door of the farm house an elderly woman had come out and smiled at him.She’d beckoned him in and he’d watched as her practiced hands had gently patted out a tin of biscuits, a cast iron of bacon frying on the stove.

She’d explained that her husband loved the farm, but was getting too old to run it. He was stubborn though and didn’t want to give it up despite having fallen earlier that year and broken his hip. They’d come to a compromise and decided to look for a farmhand who could do the heavier lifting so he could stay safe while working, but there hadn’t been much interest.

The old man had come in a few minutes later for breakfast and when Danny had been handed a plate of food he’d graciously accepted.

The man, whose name he’d learned was Norman, had asked him if he was strong and he’d answered that he was. Norman hadn’t really seemed to believe him, but after a day of helping out with chores he’d tossed a set of keys at him.

Norman had pointed to the edge of one of his pastures, the tree line dense at the edge of the field. He’d told Danny that just beyond the trees was a lake that he’d set up a cabin beside for when he had wanted alone time to fish when he was younger. It didn’t have much, just a bed, a hearth, and a rudimentary kitchen and bathroom, but if Danny wanted to work for him it was his.

The job didn’t pay, but there was room and board and he could keep a good amount of what he harvested and some of the money from farmer’s market sales if they’d had a good day.

Danny had taken the offer in a heartbeat.

It had been so long since he’d had a good night's sleep, but that first night out in the woods he’d slept more soundly than he ever had. There were no ghosts around to bother him, nothing to worry about, no attachments. For once in his life he’d slept worry free, untethered from all responsibilities.

He had been so exhausted and overwhelmed by his life in the present… but that cabin had felt like home.

Danny took a deep breath and decided that it was probably for the best to start at the beginning.

“You know Clockwork, don’t you?”

“Of course I know Clockwork,” Vlad said, annoyed that the conversation had taken yet another turn. Daniel really needed to work on his non sequiturs.

“When I was fourteen the Observants tasked him with getting rid of me, one way or the other.”

“Why?” Confusion filled Vlad at the statement. The Observants did just that, observed, and Clockwork was notorious for letting situations play themselves out, saying that the Observants had actively wanted Clockwork to meddle in human affairs was a bit like saying water was dry.

Danny waved the question off, if Vlad still had something to ask once he was done then he’d answer, but until then he was going to finish his explanation, “I got pulled into the situation by CW, who wanted me to be the one to take care of myself.”

Vlad felt a shiver run down his spine. Did Daniel mean that Clockwork had hired him to kill himself? That was a morbid thought.

“The Observants wanted me gone because I was on course to become the strongest ghost in the Ghost Zone… and the most evil.” Danny sighed, pushing ahead with his story quickly at the look of disbelief that Vlad sent him, knowing that the man meant to ask how he could become the most evil ghost in the GZ given his hero work and general disposition.

“When I was fourteen a freak series of events triggered by me cheating on the C.A.Ts led to my parents, Jazz, Sam, Tucker, and my high school teacher Mr. Lancer dying in an explosion. In the aftermath I went to live with you… but I couldn’t take the grief. I asked you to remove my humanity so I didn’t have to feel it, so I didn’t have to feel anything.”

He paused, a shaking breath escaping him. In all the years he’d held this knowledge he’d never outright explained it to someone. It was more emotionally demanding than he had expected. He had pushed so much of it down so he’d known talking about it wasn’t going to be easy, but Danny was still surprised when tears stung his eyes.

“You agreed, made an invention that was supposed to help, but you ended up ripping out my ghost.”

“Daniel that’s not pos-“

“That’s what I’d thought, but you did it and my ghost, consumed by grief, confusion and pent up anger attacked you, ripped your ghost out and fused with it. Dan was born, our ghosts, our obsessions. The first thing he did was kill my human self and then leave you to live with what had happened. He proceeded to destroy the entire world, the Grey’s managed to keep a stronghold, but even that was on the edge of falling by the time I was sent forward in time to stop myself.” He said, looking at anything but Vlad, the news that in a certain timeline your nemesis had fused with you wasn't something easy to swallow.

That was a fact that he’d known for years now and Danny was reminded of it every time he saw Vlad. It had only grown more concerning once he’d learned that they were potential soulmates.

“At first I thought that Dan was mostly you… that the way you are made him violent, but that was wrong. I was the conscious ghost of the two of us, the one in control. I held most of the blame and when I went forward in time I found out that what I thought was a freak series of accidents was actually caused by Dan going back in time to kill our own family to ensure he would form. It was my sadness that turned me, us, into a monster. All you want to do is take over the world but me, I wanted to destroy it, to destroy everything… so I can’t stay. I can’t lose people like that, I can’t risk becoming him. So yeah I get it, I hurt everyone, but at least they’re safe.”

Vlad was quiet for a long time, processing the information and shivering slightly due to the cold before flaring his core up to give him a bit of extra warmth to work with. But of all the things Danny had expected him to say in response, the words that came from him a few agonizingly long minutes later were the last, “I don’t think they are.”

Danny turned back to him, eyes wide and searching for the meaning in Vlad’s voice, in the quiet tightness of the syllables. He wasn’t sure how to decipher the man’s tone, his expression. He’d never seen Vlad like this, so very human and upfront. It didn’t feel natural. Something in his core revolted against the image, against the thought that Plasmius could be anything other than a monster despite knowing from his travel to the future that it was indeed possible for Vlad to be more than the sum of his parts. He narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth, “Vlad if you try to hurt them.”

Vlad shook his head, part of him wanted to be surprised by the defensive stance and tone Daniel had taken on, but he wasn’t. Daniel had always been highly suspicious and given the delicate nature of what he had just shared it was a wonder he wasn’t even more guarded “No— I don't mean it like that, I mean, Daniel what you did last night you never would have done that a year ago.”

The corners of Daniel’s lips pulled up before Vlad could finish his thought, exposing the fangs Vlad had noticed the night before. “I was drunk,” he snapped, arms crossing over his chest defensively, as if he could block out what Vlad had said and the memories of the man’s ectoplasm running down his back in a warm, bright flood.

“That’s not an excuse,” Vlad said, he knew that well enough from experience. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t done some highly questionable things while under the influence, “And even if it were the you I knew wouldn’t have gotten drunk like that in the first place.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not like you knew that me very well either.” Danny scoffed, slowly rising from the roof as he made to leave. He’d had enough of this conversation. He had tried to explain things to Vlad, had told him things he’d never told anyone but Sam and Tucker who only knew because they had been there for parts of his fight with Dan. Why didn’t Vlad see that he was right? Why was he bringing up the party? Yes, Danny had fucked up, he knew that, but why did it pertain to him leaving? It was pointless trying to reason with Vlad, he should have known better, “Bye Vlad.”

He began to fly away, but Vlad ran after him, rushing across the roof and transforming.

“Daniel, stop this isolation isn’t good for you!”

“That’s rich coming from you, Plasmius,” He said, hand on the watch Clockwork had given him. He wasn’t in the mood to humor Vlad with a chase or a fight. He’d found out what he’d wanted to regarding Tucker having access to Vlad’s files and he’d said his peace. If Vlad refused to see that he was right then that was his problem, not Danny’s.

He pressed down on the dial and disappeared.

* * *

Vlad watched as Daniel vanished, whisked away by Clockwork’s powers. He grit his teeth.

That idiot!

Didn’t he see that secluding himself from everybody wouldn’t work? Vlad could understand the impulse given what Daniel had told him, but it wasn’t good for him. Vlad would have to unpack everything he’d learned about Dan, but it didn’t take a genius to understand that running wasn’t the solution.

Vlad had run for so many years and it had only served to sharpen his darker impulses.

When he was younger isolation had seemed like a fine answer. If you pushed everyone away no one could hurt you.

At least, that’s what Vlad had thought, but the truth was he’d ended up being the one to hurt himself.

He didn’t doubt Daniel was doing the same.

Grief wasn’t an emotion solved by running. It was a persistent thing that clung on until properly dealt with. There was no leaving it or forgetting it. Vlad himself was still working on many aspects of his own grief, it was a long road and one he had to admit he didn’t want Daniel to go down… but it seemed far too late for that.

Vlad sighed, looking down at his hands before letting himself sink through the house, knowing he should try to go on with his day. There was little use in stewing in what had happened, especially if Clockwork was involved. He’d hide Daniel away for as long as he cared to and there would be no swaying him.

* * *

One year after Daniel’s ‘death’

* * *

A few more months went by with little change. Vlad told Danielle what Daniel had said to him so she could stop looking for him in the GZ and he’d caught Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and Valarie up as well.

Everyone had been rightfully upset, but after Danielle had rather unsuccessfully gone to yell at Clockwork things had settled back down as they fell into a routine of simply hoping that Daniel would come back.

What else really was there to do?

Vlad wasn’t sure.

He continued to help Jack and Maddie in their lab, although his sabotaging efforts became less direct and focused. After the two had gone on their New Years Vacation to America’s most haunted locations they had seemed to calm down a bit. Getting Maddie out of the house had cleared her head and she had started moving on to the next stages of her grief.

Jack had been especially relieved and had thanked Vlad for the vacation, telling him that it had been exactly what they had needed.

It was because of this change and because of Vlad’s efforts in helping his two friends that some of the harder ice had begun to melt between them. For a majority of the past year he had been around mostly to try and help them out since Daniel’s passing but now… now things were starting to feel like it was more than that and more than a tentative half friendship.

There had been a moment near the anniversary of Daniel’s death that Vlad had found himself on the couch with Maddie. Her legs had stretched out across the cushions to tangle with his as she’d relaxed. They had sat the same way often in college, with a gentle intimacy. Vlad had missed it.

Jack had walked into the living room and handed them some pancakes he had made and for the first time in decades it had felt as if they were in their small college apartment.

Vlad had never thought he would get to feel that warmth again, but there it was on a Tuesday afternoon.

Currently he was down in the Fentonworks lab with Jack, scrunched up underneath the Speeder 2 on a creeper.

Maddie had gone out to Jasmine’s college for a visit. Jasmine had called a week earlier and said that she had big news she needed to share, but Maddie said she wouldn’t share it over the phone and had insisted that she drive down to see her.

So it was a boys night with Jack and himself.

They busied themselves with lab work, mostly cleaning and repairing, changing the ectofilters on the portal, small jobs of the like, chatting as they did.

Vlad hummed softly to himself, reaching his hand out from under the vehicle until he felt the familiar weight of the wrench Jack pressed to his hand. “You can’t keep running it like this, there’s only so much the filters can take,” He called up, Voice echoing off the cement floor to bounce on the metal above his head and make his voice sound far too loud.

“We’ve got plenty of filters V-Man, besides Maddie’s intent on taking it North when she gets back to complete a chunk of our data map.”

Vlad groaned inwardly, the pair were currently on an impossible mission to map the entire Ghost Zone. The thing was though, being an alternate plane of existence meant the GZ ran on different rules. North could be South by the time Maddie got back.

Ah well, not much to do about it. “Just be safe out there, alright?” He set the wrench against the bolt above him to begin removing it, placing it on a nearby strip of cardboard once it fell out and repeating the process until the panel he was working on popped off.

An acrid mixture of ectoplasm and oil got on his hand, making it too slick to hold the wrench right. He whipped his hands off on the arms of his jumpsuit which he’d pulled down a while ago after getting too hot. He’d told Jack that due to his contamination in college the ectoplasm didn’t have much of an effect on him anymore. Anything to stop sweating like a sinner in church under the Speeder.

“You ever put any more thought into being a hunter?” Jack asked as Vlad stuck his hand out again, waiting for a fresh filter to be dropped into his palm.

“My work keeps me busy enough, you know that,” Vlad answered as he pulled the filter under the Speeder and moved to fully remove the old, corroded one, whipping his hands off again before setting the new one in its slot.

“I know, but with how little ectoplasm affects you I think you’d be good to have out there… and maybe it could be like old times you know…”

Vlad blinked, Jack hadn’t brought up the old times in a while. He pushed himself out from under the Speeder a bit, eyes peeking up from the floor to look at Jack, “You know I’m not really good around spooks,” He said, trying to decipher Jack’s expression despite looking at it upside down, before scooting back under the vehicle.

Jack didn’t say anything else as Vlad placed the panel to the filter back on, the atmosphere in the room filling with a tension Vlad tried to ignore.

Finishing with his work Vlad pulled himself up from under the Speeder, rolling all the way out before sitting up on the creeper. He wiped his arm across his forehead to get the sweat, only to frown as he smeared some lingering ectoplasm across his face. Without thinking he tugged his t-shirt off, pulling it up and over his head.

His jumpsuit was already messy, using the arms of the outfit would only make him dirtier, so he wiped his face off with the shirt, not caring that he was staining the white material.

It was only as he felt Jack’s gaze lingering on him did he realize what he’d done.

Jack spoke before he could, “Your soul line, you know, it looks a lot like Danny’s did.”

Vlad swallowed, nerves coiling in his gut. Daniel’s parents had to have known what their son’s lines had looked like. They would have seen Vlad’s line on him, nestled right up under his skull. They would have chalked it up to coincidence, but for Vlad to have a line that looked like Daniel’s, that couldn’t be ignored.

Right?

He turned to Jack, lowering his shirt to his lap. Was this where it all came crashing down?

They looked at each other for a moment, a heavy split second where something unknown flickered in Jack’s gaze and then as if a switch had been hit the man’s brows furrowed and he shook his head with an awkward laugh. “Sorry, that probably sounded weird, I’ve just been thinking about him lately.”

Vlad tried to keep his heavy sigh inaudible and recover quickly. Jack and Maddie thought Daniel was dead, so even if his line looked like Daniel’s it couldn’t be. Incomplete lines faded when someone died. For all Jack knew it really was just a wild coincidence.

“Well, it was the anniversary of… you know, just a few days ago so that makes sense,” he tried to cover, picking up a few tools near him and moving to place them into the toolbox to his side, pretending that everything was normal.

Jack knelt down beside him, helping as he cleaned up, pressing drill bits neatly into their slots, “Do you think you’re ever going to find them, your soul line?”

Vlad looked to Jack only to immediately look away at the pained expression the man wore. Why was he looking at him like that? Why was he asking in that voice? Jack was meant to be boisterous, not this, not speaking in this almost sad, distant tone.

He shook his head, “No, I don’t think I’m going to.” He lied because it was the easiest route for the conversation to take. He didn’t want to look for his potential soulmate and he certainly couldn’t tell Jack who it really was so it was easier to just say no.

No. He wasn’t going to ever have a soulmate. No. He didn’t think he’d ever find his person. “But it’s a—”

“I’m sorry.”

The words hit him harder than Daniel’s punches had, the syllables grabbing him and slapping him across the face because just looking at Jack Vlad knew what he was apologizing for, but he’d never thought he’d really hear it.

He had wanted it. For years he’d wanted to hear those words, but he’d always imagined that he’d have to force them from Jack and Maddie. This wasn’t a confession he had thought could come naturally. Vlad wasn’t sure what to say, he felt his fingers tighten in the shirt fabric, “Jack it’s…” it’s what?

He wasn’t sure.

It’s not like it was okay. It’s not like he had forgotten.

“It’s not okay.” Jack said, rejecting the statement that he must have thought Vlad was trying and failing to make, “We shouldn’t have left you.”

Vlad wanted to stand up, wanted to push himself off the floor and leave the lab altogether. After years of waiting for this he couldn’t stand to hear it, it was too much and as his heart picked up in his chest every muscle in his body wound up tighter and tighter as if to force him to run. He wanted to sink into the ground or turn intangible or anything, but he couldn’t, not with Jack staring at him like he was, pinning him down with his gaze, determined to say the words he’d withheld from Vlad for so many years.

“When the accident happened, I pushed Maddie out of the way, I didn’t think about it, I just did,” He started, scoring closer to him on the floor. Vlad tried not to back away or scowl as he was tempted to, “We didn’t realize until after the paramedics had come to take you to the hospital that our soul bonds had completed because of it…”

Jack paused, a pained expression on his face, his hands met one another, fingers fighting around each other until the material of his gloves scrunched in a nervous press, “We thought you had _died_. We thought, we thought that you had to have because we’d all experienced the accident together. The only reason why your soul line would have disappeared on us was because you were dead.”

Vlad’s breath snagged in his throat… why hadn’t he thought of that? Years of thinking they just left him and he’d never thought that maybe they didn’t think there was anyone to visit.

“That accident should have bonded all of us, but it didn’t… we thought we killed you Vlad, we thought—” Jack’s breath caught too now and when Vlad’s eyes found his he saw tears there, ringing the edges, “We thought we completed our bond watching our best friend die.”

They had technically.

Vlad hadn’t survived the incident, not really, not wholly. But it wasn’t as if he could say that.

“We were so stupid,” Jack said after a moment, his voice rough as he spoke around the lump there, reaching out to take Vlad’s trembling hands. “We were young and stupid and we couldn’t process you being gone so we ran. We thought your family would handle your funeral and although we knew you never got along well with them we couldn’t stomach facing them, not when it was our fault you were gone.”

For once Vlad allowed himself to think of the accident from Jack and Maddie’s perspectives, looking down at his hands in Jack’s own, still small, like they’d used to be.

“By the time we figured out you were alive, so many years had passed… we didn’t know how to fix it. We didn’t know if we had a right to fix it.”

Vlad had disappeared for years, he’d been in the hospital for nearly a decade and had taken a long time to appear in public again. He hadn’t done so until his work had demanded it and even then he’d stayed to the background for a good while.

“We were glad when you reached out to us to come to the reunion but… things still weren’t the same.”

They weren’t. Vlad had been angry, hellbent on revenge, things couldn’t have been further from the easy, natural comfort of their college years.

“But now, ever since Danny, it feels like we’re getting closer to how things were.”

Vlad had to agree with him, which was something he couldn’t have pictured himself doing a year prior, but things were feeling easier now and Jack was right. They had never felt as close as they had been in college, not until Daniel had ‘died’. The grief Jack and Maddie had felt had opened Vlad’s eyes to what his revenge would have looked like had he ever achieved it. It made him face that he hadn’t truly wanted that. He hadn’t actually wanted Jack dead or for Maddie to just be his or any of it… he’d just wanted his life back.

He wanted things to be normal, but what normal meant had fundamentally changed for him.

Getting back to who he had been wasn’t possible, not in its entirety, and he’d been left to stew in his new self — a self he hadn’t been able to recognize.

The Vlad before the incident and the Vlad after were two different people, severed from one another by pain, trauma, and fear. Trapped in a person he was unfamiliar with. Stuck looking at an uncanny reflection in the mirror, Vlad had lashed out and let himself attach his mind to the thoughts that plagued him at night.

Laying in a hospital bed he had found that being angry was easier than being scared. The dark didn’t feel as pressing, didn’t feel as if it wanted to swallow him up, when he let rage coil inside him. He wasn’t alone if he didn’t want anyone near him. It was hard to be scared when he knew he could rip anything that threatened him to shreds.

It was so much easier to be guarded.

Vulnerability like this, like the moment Jack had created; that was what he’d come to really fear.

“I was mad…” he confessed, his voice so much different than how he had imagined it when he had pictured himself forcing Jack and Maddie to apologize.

“As you should be.”

“I don’t know if I’m still mad or not anymore.”

Vlad hadn’t formed that thought into words yet and doing so now left him feeling shaken and raw. He had been mad for so many years that letting go of it felt like letting go of safety and he didn’t want to feel exposed and yet, he wasn’t even sure if he was truly angry any more. He had every right to be. Everything in him screamed that, but he didn’t know if he had a reason to be and he was starting to see that right and reason were not the same thing.

At some point he had to stop mourning the death of who he could have been and try to become acquainted with who he was.

It was a daunting process.

“I know things aren’t really ever going to be like the old times,” Jack said and hearing him state it so bluntly, so outright, had Vlad’s chest tightening as they both carefully closed and locked that box of what ifs that had been plaguing his mind for decades. “But I’m glad you’re back now.”

The hands that held Vlad’s moved up to grip his shoulders and he tugged him in for a hug that Vlad didn’t protest or try to slip out of early, his own arms wrapping securely around the larger man’s torso.

“Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The conversation with Jack and Vlad was one of the ones that popped into my mind first when planning this fic so it was so so nice to get to.
> 
> As mentioned this is part 3 now, aka the part where the characters start dealing with their emotions. Also yes, there will be a heartfelt talk between Vlad and Maddie later in the fic. I am not leaving her out promise uwu. 
> 
> Also like I just really enjoy soft, emotionally competent Jack, like the show never gives it to us but can we please just like imagine it for a minute oh my god. 
> 
> As always kudos and comments much appreciated and I hope you guys enjoyed this not so angsty chapter.


	9. Carceri d’invenzione

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah weddings, don’t they just bring us all together?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’all better read the end notes for this one because it includes me being a nerd again.

* * *

One year and eight months after Daniel’s ‘death’.

* * *

  
Vlad looked down at the envelope pressed into his hand, it’s seal long broken, contents already read.

He’d received the letter a little over a month back and had since been debating on whether or not he should carry through with the plan that had come to his mind only a few days later.

Maddie had returned from visiting Jasmine at her college with the wonderful news that Jasmine and Valerie’s lines had completed. Now official soulmates Jasmine had wanted to ask her mom how she should propose, nervous but eager to marry her girlfriend.

A few months later they had announced officially that they were engaged and then a little while after that a date had been set for March of the following year to allow them an ample amount of time to prepare for their nuptials.

Vlad had known about the wedding far before he’d received the official save the date invitation, but he’d been happy to receive it nonetheless. He’d carefully opened the envelope and pulled out the card, calling the Fenton household and Jasmine herself that very same day to confirm that he would be there.

He owned the venue after all, his home back in Wisconsin.

He’d offered it up easily, knowing the place would make for a beautiful wedding location and who was he kidding, he’d always been a sap for weddings as much as he tried to hide it behind his stoic behaviors. He’d imagined getting married to Maddie there several times. Now the idea felt incredibly laughable.

He’d pressed the invitation into his old photo album which he’d started using again in recent months. Danielle had suggested it over the summer, when he, Jack, and Maddie had gone on a camping trip. They had used to go on them in college to get away from the lab and he’d found it refreshing to be on the trails again.

At Danielle’s suggestion he’d taken a film camera and documented the trip, much to Jack’s delight. He’d later had double copies of the pictures developed, one for him and one for his friends.

Now his photo album was full of small moments, the kind he’d never thought he’d have again and Vlad had begun to relearn that small happinesses were joy too. It didn’t take expensive things to make him smile or laugh, sometimes it took hardly anything at all.

He had pictures of him and Danielle golfing; she was surprisingly good at it. He had pictures of Jack and Maddie outside or in the lab or watching football. He had pictures of Maddie the cat, and even Sam and Tucker, Jasmine and Valerie. He imagined he’d have many more pictures of Jasmine and Valarie soon. He intended to take quite a few at their wedding.

He’d stared down at the invitation in its little plastic sleeve and an idea had come to mind.

Wouldn’t Daniel like to know Jasmine was getting married?

It made sense that he would, but what was he supposed to do about it?

The question had lingered in his mind for a few days until a clone had dragged up the answer his subconscious had already produced, ruminating in the back of his mind on Daniel as he was unfortunately apt to do.

“Why don’t we just ask Clockwork?”

“Clockwork doesn’t want us to see Daniel.” He’d answered curtly but his clone had shook his head, leaning over from where he sat on the kitchen counter to snatch a wedge of cheese from a nearby charcuterie board.

“No, we don’t ask to see Daniel, we ask Clockwork to deliver the message to him.”

“And just why would Clockwork deliver a message to him?”

“Exactly,” he clone had grinned, “Clockwork won’t deliver the message because he does nothing himself.”

“Your point?”

“Our point is that he’ll say he won’t deliver it so we say we will. We won’t see Daniel, we'll just drop off the save the date!”

Did he think that would work?

He didn’t verbalize that question, but his clone answered anyway with a shrug, “Not really, but what’s the harm in trying?”

There wasn’t one, the worst Clockwork could say was no, but one question still plagued Vlad and it was the same one that had been plaguing him for a long time now.

Why did he care so much?

He’d spent a long time toying with the thought, peeling back the layers of himself that wouldn’t let him grasp the answer. At first he’d wanted Daniel back so he could answer for what he’d done, then he’d wanted him back just so Jack and Maddie could feel better. He’d thought he’d been done with the question when last Christmas had come and gone and Daniel had declared with no room for doubt that he was never going to come back.

But he hadn’t been done with the question, with Daniel, and he didn’t know why because even Danielle didn’t bother with it anymore, she’d stop wondering aloud if he was going to return.

It was like picking at a scab that wasn’t fully healed, that had just begun to itch. The skin was still hot beneath it and when he dug his nails in it hurt, but some drive, some need told him he had to tear it away.

Blood welled up beneath his fingers, anger filling him when he thought of Daniel’s ‘death’ even though it had been nearly two years. There was something there waiting for him under that scab and he couldn’t see it, couldn’t get a grip at the edge good enough to rip it away.

He didn’t know why he was still looking for Daniel, why he had become attached to the idea of him coming to Jasmine’s wedding, yet here he was anxiously floating outside of Clockwork’s tower.

The fact that he’d been able to find it was a decent enough sign, although it didn’t guarantee success. Clockwork could only be found if he was willing to put up with someone at any given time and he’d put up with Danielle a lot over the time since Daniel’s disappearance, but he’d never truly helped them. Still, Vlad tried to see it as a positive that his search hadn’t ended in vain quite yet.

Entering the tower he was bombarded by images of life on earth, people going about their days in one way or the other in the small floating circles that seemed constant within the space of Clockwork’s dominion.

As he moved through the levels searching for the other ghost Vlad watched the portals to other times and places, wondering what Clockwork must have thought of them all, being relegated to watch for all eternity. He supposed it was a bit like being a security guard, although a very busy one who could never take a break.

He tried to see if he could find anyone he knew. He may not have schemed in a while but he’d always had a problem with prying eyes and looking into the life of someone he knew was temping.

“Now, now Plasmius that’s not very gentlemanly of you,” Clockwork appeared behind him just as he’d begun spying on an image of his secretary stuck in traffic.

A strong shiver ran up his spine, but he refused to flinch at the sound of the voice right behind him, a bit too close for comfort. He also didn’t bother with answering, he knew Clockwork didn’t really want one.

“The one you’re looking for is over there,” Clockwork hummed after a moment where they simply stared at one another, Vlad refusing to back down in the face of Clockwork’s overwhelming presence. He had never fought the ghost, but the instincts in his core knew that he wasn’t to be trifled with. Plasmius fancied himself a formidable force, but even he had to admit that the time ghost ranked above him.

Clockwork pointed to a portal with his staff, prompting Vlad to turn to where he gestured. There, through the spinning portal, was Daniel. He was standing on a dirt and gravel road, arms above his head as he swung a pickaxe downwards. The metal connected with the ground beneath, pressing into a hole created by a set of wood planks that were buried in the road. Vlad approached the vision, curious as to why Daniel was cleaning out rain drainage ditches, digging out the stray dirt and gravel from the water paths.

“He took a job on a farm in the past, he does chores to keep the place running. Helps with harvest, cuts wood, maintains the roads, and the like,” Clockwork answered before he had the chance to ask, waving his staff so the images flickered.

Daniel was stacking wood on a large pile, then he was carrying hay bales, driving posts into the ground, pulling potatoes up from the earth, and so on. One after the other images of Daniel working followed each other, Vlad watching as Daniel spent his nearly two years away working, growing, changing.

“All this time he wasn’t even in the Ghost Zone…”

Clockwork shook his head, “People hide best where they shouldn’t be in the first place.”

“I need t-“

“Yes I know why you’re here,” Clockwork pointed to the letter in Vlad’s hand and then back to the portal where the image shifted once more to Daniel sitting by a lake, a fishing line cast into the water, fall colors smattering the forest around him in false fire.

“You’re just going to let me after keeping him away for so long?” Vlad didn’t know if he should be thankful or angry and settled on a good bit of both, “Why?”

“It’s difficult to meet yourself without first understanding who you are not.”

Vlad looked at Daniel and sighed. He knew full well who Daniel wasn’t. He wasn’t the him at the truce party, or him on the roof, or him in the casket. Those versions of Daniel were as far detached from him as anything could be, polar opposites, opposing magnets, although, not for the reasons Daniel assumed.

Vlad nodded. He understood this and for once he understood Clockwork’s words because he himself was just starting to meet Vlad Masters and to understand who he wasn’t. Daniel’s ‘death’ had shown him who he was and was not and who he wasn’t was a man dead set on revenge, a villain. He wasn’t a perfect man, far from it, but he wasn’t a monster and he wasn’t incapable of change.

Daniel though, well, that was a bit more complicated.

“He’s not, not Dan.”

“He is not, not Dan.” Clockwork repeated with a nod and although he didn’t smile Vlad could hear that twinge of amusement and perhaps even pride in his voice, although not pride for himself. “Heroism is all well and good, but denying the flaws of the self harms more than anything else.”

Talk about preaching to the choir. Pretending he was perfect had gotten Vlad nowhere fast, although he’d gone about it far differently from Daniel. The idiot really thought that making some great ‘sacrifice’ and then running away counted as solving his problems.

Vlad stepped towards the portal, nodding his thanks rather than verbalizing it and as Clockwork nodded back he stepped through.

* * *

Danny froze as he felt something, someone, join him in the forest. His head tilted towards the noise of it even before his ghost senses had a chance to go off, his previously content mood turning on a dime as he registered the ectosignature.

“Plasmius.” He’d thought he’d been done with this, but Vlad never knew when to give up.

The other ghost appeared from the tree line, shifting back into Vlad Masters as he cleared the forest to step out near the lake shore. He didn’t say anything and for that Danny was grateful because he didn’t want to hear a word the man could possibly have to say. He’d been left alone for over a year now, couldn’t he just stay that way?

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I am not coming back.” He turned away from Vlad, pretending to return his focus to the fishing rod and line in front of him. He hadn’t had many chores on the farm that day, he was trying to relax. Still, he kept his senses keyed into the halfa behind him, tense and ready to fight.

“I’m not here to bring you back,” Vlad said, approaching slowly, giving Daniel ample time to track the movement because he knew that although Daniel was trying to make it seem like he was ignoring him in order to make a point the younger hadn’t pulled any of his true attention away from him. He sat down beside him on the wooden dock, just about a foot away. “I came here to tell you something.”

Danny looked at him from the corner of his eyes, frustrated huff building in his chest, “I’m not in the mood for an ‘Oh Daniel I've changed I’m so good now’ bullshit speech.”

Vlad laughed a bit at that, part of him wanted to be insulted but he couldn’t be, not really. A few years back he would have given Daniel such a speech. He would have gone on some rant about how good he had become, although, back then he wouldn’t have actually changed at all, merely convinced himself that he had.

“No I’m not here for that,” he hummed voice so gentle that Danny found his hand itching to strike him. Where did Vlad get off sounding so fucking normal, since when did he laugh so easily?

Vlad reached into his pocket and Daniel tensed, clearly expecting a weapon, confusion filling his expression as he pulled the letter from his pocket and held it out for Daniel to take.

“What’s this?” Danny asked, reaching out momentarily to take it, but his hand stopped midway between them to fall back to his lap.

“You know how to read, don’t you? Or have you already forgotten,” Vlad said as he waved the paper a bit.

Danny narrowed his eyes at the insult and grabbed the paper, crinkling it up in his haste. He looked down at it incredulously and was hit with a wave of guilt at how he had grabbed at it so roughly.

“This is…” It was an invitation. Jazz and Valerie’s names were scrolled in fine calligraphy across the top, “They’re getting married?”

Vlad nodded, “I thought you should know, even if you’re not coming back. She’s your family after all.”

“What do you care?”

Vlad shrugged but didn’t answer. There wasn’t really an answer to be had that he knew how to voice. He could say that he figured it would make Jasmine happy if Daniel came, but deep down he knew it was a bit more than that.

“Says here you can bring a plus one,” Danny said, running his fingers over the card stock paper and trying to smooth down the rough edges he had placed in it, “Guess I didn’t get an invitation…”

“You did not, corpses are not generally invited to weddings.”

“You were.”

“I’m a little less dead than you.”

“Barely.”

Vlad had to disagree, but he didn’t, not verbally anyway, instead he latched on to what Daniel had said a few moments earlier, “I don’t have a plus one.”

Everyone he would have cared to invite had been of course. Danielle had received her invitation on the same day as he had, although she’d been asked to be Valerie’s maid of honor before the date had even been set.

“Course you don’t, fruitloop.”

Vlad stiffened momentarily, Daniel hadn’t called him that in years, not even before he’d left for the past and sure, some of that time had to do with him moving from Amity, but it still sounded odd coming from him. He glanced over at the younger man as he handed the invitation back to him.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Wait you’ll —“ Vlad balked, confused. He had come with the intention of just letting Daniel know about the wedding, he had never actually expected him to agree.

“Don’t get a plus one, not that you could anyway, because I’ll think about it.”

Vlad floundered for a minute, taking the invitation back and stuffing it into his suit's inner jacket pocket clumsily. He was sure that if Daniel showed up Jasmine wouldn’t hesitate to allow him to be there with or without an invitation. He didn’t officially need to be Vlad’s plus one, surely Daniel knew that and was just messing with him.

Before he could say anything else, perhaps point that fact out, Daniel waved his hand. “I’m busy.” He said curtly, the line on his pole seeming to jump at the command of his voice, a fish tugging at the string. He set his hand against the reel and began to pull it in slowly.

Watching for a moment longer Vlad stared as the tenseness in Daniel’s shoulders left, the other halfa now truly turning his attention away from him. No longer following him with his senses, deeming him a non-threat.

He stood, transforming back into Plasmius just as a portal appeared behind him. It appeared that Clockwork knew that it was time for him to go too. He opened his mouth to leave Daniel with some parting words, but nothing could seem to crawl up his throat. Oh well…

Maybe he’d finally know what to say if Daniel showed up to the wedding.

* * *

Two years and one month after Daniel’s ‘death’.

* * *

  
Weddings were always such an interesting thing to be a part of, not that Vlad had ever been apart of one this intimately before. He’d been to the weddings of a few of his business partners out of courtesy, but he’d never actually gone to a wedding for people he cared about.

He hadn’t even gone to Jack and Maddie’s wedding. Not that he could have given how sick he had been at the time and the fact that they had thought he was dead. As he’d said, corpses did not typically get invited to weddings.

Still, he’d always found them fascinating and he enjoyed planning events so getting to host Jasmine and Valerie’s wedding at his Winsonson castle was a treat.

He’d never seen his home so full, not even during his college reunion. Chef’s and planners bustled around, guests arrived, the musicians took their places. He had spared no expense. The Fentons had protested at first, him paying for everything and a lot of everything at that, but he’d insisted.

Vlad intended for this to be quite the spectacular event. There weren’t all that many guests really, but he still wanted it to feel like a grand, sweeping afair. That was just part of the burden secret romantics had to bear.

He was in the main foyer, directing the caterer to his kitchen to store the large wedding cake in one of his industrial size fridges when Vlad saw him.

There, entering through the front door was a man he’d never seen before and who he knew for sure wasn’t on the guest list or a worker, he’d memorized those lists front to back. He was tall and well built, with a mess of tied back, long sand blond hair and a beard that was just a smidge better than a half grown out five o’clock shadow, and dark, squared glasses. Tucker trailed behind him as they approached.

“Long time no see, Vladimir,” The man nearly purred, a small, knowing smirk playing at the edge of his lips as Vlad froze. No one called him Vladimir except— his eyes cut to the man’s own, a bright almost unnerving blue he knew far too well.

“Hey do you know this guy?” Tucker asked, incredulously, “He said he was with you but he’s not on the guest list or with any of the crews, says his name is Dimitri Eidolon.”

Vlad looked ‘Dimitri’ over, watching the way he rocked ever so slightly on his heels before rocking forward. “In fact I do, Dimitri here is my plus one, he’s an old business friend from overseas.” Vlad covered smoothly.

“You hadn’t mentioned a plus one,” Tucker interjected, scrolling through the guest list on his PDA.

“Yes well, this one likes to take his time when responding to invitations. I’d say he's a regular party crasher, but I prepared room for him just in case he deigned to show, so there’s no worries Tucker, thank you.”

Tucker nodded then pulled a walkie talkie from his belt and spoke into it, “D.J booth is all set up by the way, so the dance floor is all done,” He said as the voice on the other end that had told him as much cut off, “This means we’re moving to the final stage.”

Vlad nodded, “Let’s get everyone seated then, and have the wedding parties take their positions as soon as they are ready.”

Tucker reached his hand out for Dimitri and they shook, “Nice to meet you then,” He said before walking away at a brisk pace to help finish up the last of the preparations.

“He didn’t actually introduce himself,” Danny said, looking back over to Vlad with a grin that filled Vlad with a years old frustration. It seemed he’d learned how to shape shift, but he couldn’t get rid of the tell tale signs of himself. Although, that may have been on purpose to annoy him.

“Yes well, we are quite busy today without some wedding crasher, Dimitri.” He said, layering the false courtesy on thick. “And Eidolon? Really? You don’t even know Greek.”

“Ah, ah, I’m not a wedding crasher, you invited me yourself. I figured you’d be thankful I was here,” Danny chuckled as he moved to follow Vlad through the castle, not bothering to ask where they were going with all the hustle and bustle going on around them. “And no, I don’t know Greek, but I do know how to say Phantom in several languages.”

“Bit tongue in cheek,” Vlad said, watching Daniel from the corner of his eyes. There was a lightness to him, a way he held himself that Vlad wasn’t familiar with. He felt different from the Daniel he had seen last Christmas, different from the Daniel fishing on the docks too and yet, when he looked closer he noticed a hardness in his gaze.

He hid it well, but something was off. Anyone else would have seen a relaxed wedding guest, but Vlad knew a wary look when he saw one even when well masked.

He wouldn’t poke. Not yet at least. It wouldn’t do anyone any good to cause a scene at a wedding.

Vlad stopped in front of a large oak double door, gesturing to it. “Jasmine’s in there and Samantha is three doors down. I imagine once Tucker finishes with the last bits of seating preparation he’ll be in there too — oh and when you're done come to that door.” He pointed directly behind him to a matching set of oak doors, “You aren’t wearing those clothes to your sister’s wedding.”

Danny looked down at his dress pants and button up shirt, “What I look fine.”

“Daniel this is a black tie event not a high school graduation,” Vlad said as he turned to go, leaving Daniel alone in the hall in front of Jasmine’s door.

* * *

Danny watched as Vlad left, the space where the man’s body had been seeming to pull in on itself in a vacuum. Just moments ago the home had sounded loud and hectic, but now the sounds of a wedding minutes away felt distant in Vlad’s too wide, empty halls.

He looked at the oak doors in front of him. He’d come to the wedding drenched in a false, built up confidence. Claim a new name, a new face, a new voice and even the most nervous person could be hidden and he’d been doing fairly well… hell he’d even spoke to Tucker without slipping, but here in front of Jazz’s door Danny felt the mask he’d made crinkle around the edges.

He lifted his head, trying to ignore the way his whole body wanted to shake, goosebumps running a race all their own up the back of his spine and inside his stomach. He knocked, too quiet at first but then firmer.

“Come in!” An unfamiliar voice called back to him and for a moment he thought that perhaps Vlad had given him the wrong room and he was lost. His hand settled on the handle and he pushed it down, the door opening inwards as he peaked around the corner to see Jazz sitting in front of a mirror, a woman pressing a pin adorned with a soft blue flower into her red hair.

Danny could remember so many days where he’d behaved similarly, coming to his big sister's door and shyly looking into the room. When he’d been small and his mom and dad had been too busy to comfort him he would come to her and she’d always stop what she was doing, put down her studies and welcome him in to talk. As he’d gotten older moments such as those had become more and more frequent as he’d gotten his ghost powers. He’d confided in her many times, but now, here, he was a stranger.

He was an outsider who didn’t deserve to be here. He had given this up, let go of his claims to moments such as these and as her eyes looked to the mirror to see who had come in, catching his unknown reflection, her gaze said as much with the confusion that crossed her expression.

He needed to leave.

He wasn’t Danny anymore, he wasn’t her brother. He had left her an only child, severed their bonds to keep her safe because that was what safely entailed. That was his sacrifice and reaching his hands back into their lives wasn’t permitted.

Or at least, it shouldn’t be. His mind told him as much, but Danny’s mouth moved before he could stop it, a single word scrapping its way up his throat, “Jazz…”

Her eyes widened at the tone and Danny could see the gears turning in her mind, the both of them remembering how he’d say just her name at her door when he was upset and hurt. He’d press his hands to his sides, staunch the blood and ectoplasm from a fight against a shirt they would need to ‘lose’ and he’d call for her just like that in a voice neither of them could forget.

Jazz looked to the woman beside her and spoke, just a bit breathless, “Could you give us a moment?”

The woman nodded and Danny had the good sense to step back from the door when she moved to leave the room, letting her pass before lingering momentarily in the door.

“Danny…” Jazz stood up from her seat, turning to him and Danny was floored by how much she had grown in two years and how she looked in her dress.

Growing up with someone could make it difficult to see another person as a completely autonomous entity, as something more than a sibling, but here now Danny could see Jazz for the woman she had become, the person she was and he was struck with another wave of guilt. He didn’t deserve to know her like this.

And yet he couldn’t stomach the thought of leaving now that he had appeared. How could he do that to her, show up for a split second only to leave again? Jazz deserved better than that.

Danny stepped quietly into the room, closing the door gently behind him before he clicked the lock into place. He didn’t want anyone who shouldn’t see him to come in..

“Please tell me it’s really you,” Jazz said and he could see the tears forming at ther edge of her eyes, threatening to ruin the makeup she was wearing.

He shifted to his normal human self and found his arms immediately full of her. He took a split second to marvel at the fact that he was taller than her now, that she almost felt small in his arms. Since when was that allowed? Jazz was his older sister, it was her job to be taller than him, and yet she wasn’t.

“Asshole,” she whispered against him as he hugged her back and he winced knowing the scolding that was coming. Her arms folded in, pressed against his chest as she shoved him lightly, but with an overwhelming swell of feelings, “You asshole! I— I missed you!”

He looked down at her, at the makeup that would definitely have to be fixed and wondered if this could have waited because he really didn’t want to put them behind schedual. She was crying and angry and so, so Jazz. “I missed you too Jazz.”

“Why, how… how did you even know to come here?” She asked as she stepped back and Danny found himself a bit thrown off by the question, he’d expected her to ask why he had left, for her to tell him how much he had hurt everybody, and she probably would later, but for now she seemed just as stunned as he was.

“Vlad found me, told me you were getting married a few months back. I couldn’t miss it, not this.”

He’d tried to convince himself that he could, had lied to himself and pretended that he could stand it, but as the day of the wedding had gotten closer and closer he’d found himself unable to cling to his own words.

“Vlad found you?” Jazz asked, reaching out and taking his hand to make sure he was really there and not some figment of her imagination. “He never told anyone he had not since, not since what he said happened at the Christmas Truce party.”

Danny winced, he really hadn’t wanted everyone else knowing about that. “I didn’t want to be found.”

“You made that obvious enough Danny… how could you?”

There it was, that question he had expected a moment ago, the one he’d been dreading ever since he’d left. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, fingers brushing Vlad’s line for just a moment, “I had to I — Jazz I couldn’t stand the thought of living forever, of not aging, of watching everyone around me die.”

“You think that’s an excuse…” She said it so quietly, so simply and he wanted to be angry because no, it wasn’t an excuse, it was the reason. “Danny people lose people all the time, it doesn’t mean you can run away.”

“I wasn’t running away.”

Jazz said nothing in response to that statement and neither did he because they both knew damn well it was a bold faced lie.

“Are you going to stay now? Are we going to get you back?”

“I don’t know,” He answered because the question had been hounding him for sometime. He was scared that once he saw everyone again, talked to them, he wouldn’t be able to pry himself away again and it was already starting to feel that way. And then there was the matter of a certain other halfa that he needed to address…

“Danny…” he could hear the please she hadn’t managed to say and it made him feel worse. He squeezed her fingers in his own.

“Can we talk about this later?” He asked, looking away as she frowned, “It’s your big day, I’m here,” Isn’t that enough?

No.

He knew that.

“I wish you hadn’t left.”

He knew that too, he sighed, “I can’t promise anything, I — it’s really complicated Jazz.”

“You always make things more complicated than they are, ever since you were little,” Jazz said, squeezing his fingers back and when his eyes met hers he could see that she was backing off a little. He knew she’d want to talk about it later, but for now she was giving him room to breath, “If you go again can you at least say goodbye this time? I was worried.”

He nodded, he could do that much for her, “You should finish getting ready, Vlad and Tuck were talking like it was almost time and you need your mascara fixed a bit.”

“Yeah because some asshole decided to show up out of nowhere after two years of absolute nothing.”

“Sorry, Jazz.”

“You better give me a better apology later.”

“I will,” He promised, not sure if he would fulfill it as he let go of her hand and shifted back into Dimitri. “See you out there.”

With that he left, heart pounding a mile a minute. He stepped out into the hall, letting the stylist back in and looking down towards Sam and Tucker’s room. He’d barely kept it together for Jazz, he could feel his eyes stinging. How the fuck had he ever been strong enough to leave in the first place. This is why he hadn’t said any proper goodbyes, it was too hard.

He tipped his head back, blinking away the wetness against his lashes, swallowing hard around the lump in his throat as he tried to stop shaking. He shouldn’t fucking be here. He didnt deserve it.

And yet he couldnt stop his feet once they’d sarted walking towards his friend’s room, just as he hadn’t been able to stop his hand form moving to the watch dial on his wrist once he’d decided to come. His body understood what he wanted better than his brain would let him comprehend and he hated it, hated being at war with himself and his emotions, Danny wished he could turn them off, wished he could throw them away, but when he had those thoughts he sounded too much like the version of him that had created Dan.

So, fearful of what he might become, he allowed his emotions just enough room to drag his muscles around like a puppet.

He knocked on the door in front of him. Tucker came to answer, stopping short as he saw him, “Um, Dimitri? If you’re looking for V-“

“It’s me, Tuck,” He said, cutting his friend off and carefully stepping into the room as he transformed back into Danny again.

Sam gasped, a glass bottle of perfume slipping from her fingers to crash to the tile floor, shattering and filling the room with its soft sandalwood and jasmine scent. “Danny!”

Tucker slammed the door closed, jumping on him from behind as Sam crashed into his front, both of his friends taking him into their arms and sending him off balance to fall to the floor in the same manner the perfume bottle had.

They broke when they hit the tile as well.

Unable to hold back his tears Danny dragged in a breath that was half laugh, half sob, fingers tightening in Sam and Tucker’s clothes. Sam’s face was pressed into his neck and he could feel her tears against his skin. Tucker was much the same, clinging to him as he struggled to breath.

They laid there on the floor for a while, holding one another, crying, remembering what they felt like, how they smelled, how their voices sounded.

These were the people Danny had intended to spend his life with. These were the people he had ripped himself away from, who had moved on and created soul bonds with one another because that’s what he had wanted and yet he’d still been so hurt, hurt enough to get drunk, hurt himself, hurt Vlad.

These were people Danny loved and always, always would in one way or another even if he didn’t want to, even if that love was dangerous, even if it risked turning him into a monster.

These were his friends.

Tucker moved first, lifting away from Danny to look down at him. “You’re here!”

Danny nodded, smiling through the tears, “I’m here.” Fuck how was he ever supposed to leave again? “I’m sorry.”

Sam moved away from him and gripped the front of his shirt hard, lifting him off the ground before shoving him back again, shaking him “Daniel Fenton where on earth have you been!? It’s been two years! Do you have any idea —” she stopped herself, one hand suddenly lifting to her throat, fingers wrapping around Tucker’s mark on her skin and when she spoke again she sounded quiet and hurt in a way Danny had never heard her sound, “ _Do you have any idea?_ ”

He reached out, cupped her cheek in his hand and although her eyes said she didn’t want him to touch her she still let him, “I know... I know you two are soulbonded now..." He started, knowing that she was asking about so, so much more than their soul lines, "I’m sorry I can’t be with the both of you. But I had too.”

“Why?” Tucker asked, knees tucking under himself, hands balling to fists against his legs, “Why not?”

Danny let out a pained breath, shifting to sit up, reaching out to pull Tucker towards him with his free hand in a tight hug, “I’m going to outlive the both of you, I’m going to stop aging soon. I’m going to live forever and I... if I felt the pain of two soul mates dying I knew it would turn me into Dan and it was just... it was too dangerous.”

“Why didn’t you tell us? Why did you just leave?” Sam asked, eyes closing tight as a sobbed ripped through her and Danny hated that sound more than anything on the entire world, “We’re supposed to be a team! When did it become you verses us!? When did we get separated?”

“Sam—“ he didn’t know what to say, what was there really? What apology could truly encapsulate all he had done and why he had done it. “I... I was scared you’d talk me out of it, leaving.”

“Of course we would have!” Tucker said, “It was stupid! Danny we buried you! You, our best friend!”

Danny winced, “I had too, staying, bonding with you, it was too risky—it still is too risky you have to understand.”

“We don’t,” Sam shook her head, “We can’t, we love you, we missed you, we still do.”

“I know and I... I love you guys too and I miss you so much, but you know Dan and you know what he is, what he does. I put everyone in danger.”

“You put yourself in danger,” Tucker said, standing and reaching his hand out for Danny to take, but Danny didn’t understand what his friend meant, “Vlad told us what happened at the Christmas Truce party. That’s not you… separating yourself has made you more Dan than anything else. You can’t do it again. Danny, leaving, that’s what’s really dangerous.”

“It isn’t you,” Sam stressed as she stood too, “Running.”

Maybe it was, he wanted to say, wanted to nearly snap, a sudden anger coloring his mind with bitter distaste. This was why he hadn’t told them he was leaving because they would have said it wasn’t him, that he was a hero and heroes didn’t run. Heroes stood and fought, but the truth was he’d been tired of the fight, was tired of the fight. And at the end of the day who got to decide who or what he was?

If he looked in the mirror and said I am not a hero anymore wasn’t that enough to strip the title away, to peel back the layers of paint and veneer he’d adorned himself with for years?

Couldn’t the cape be sat down? Couldn’t he pick who he was?

His friends knew him, but wasn’t the creation of himself his power? Why did the expectations of others need to sway his self as it did?

Wouldn’t he, in his long, endless life have to remake himself over and over and over again.

Where was the stable self? The stable mind?

If his friends could change, if Vlad could change, why couldn’t he?

Why must he always, always be the hero?

Wasn’t there something beyond the childish delusions of a fourteen year old heaped with far too much responsibility? Wasn’t there a horizon to look over, towards?

Where was his metamorphosis, where did it begin, and who was anyone to deny him it?

He didn’t answer Sam or Tucker’s questions, merely stood without taking their hands and that was answer enough, Danny could see that much in their eyes.

As he’d said to Jazz he said to them now, “I can’t make any promises.”

“Danny…” Sam began but he waved her off with a hand, shifting back into Dimitri.

“We should go,” he said, looking back to the door, “It’s almost time, isn’t it?”

Tucker nodded, turning to Sam, “We should go sit down.”

Danny reached for the door, but was stopped by Sam’s hand curling around his wrist, “We don’t want to lose you again.”

He had stiffened as she grabbed him, but looking at her, at the worry in her eyes that he knew so well from years of having her fuss over him as he was injured he softened slightly, “I know.” He said, the fingers of his other hand wrapping around her own, palm cupping there gently as he smiled for her sake, “We’ll talk more later.”

“Promise us.”

Danny sighed, he had just told them that he couldn’t promise anything, but of course Sam wasn’t about to take that as an answer, she was too stubborn, “Promise.” He lied.

He moved from her gently, pulling away slowly, carefully until she let him go, still wearing that soft smile as he did.

“I’ll see you two out there, okay?” He said as he opened the door to step back out into the hall letting the door click closed behind him to leave him once again alone in the liminal space of the hall, the sounds of the wedding just far enough away to sound surreal.

His eyes caught the light of a nearby window. Who in this day and age had a rose stained glass window in a simple hallway? He let out an odd, huffed chuckle through his nose, nerds like Vlad did, that was who. The man was obsessed with gothic architecture and motifs even if they appeared so out of place in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin.

The red and the blue of the glass spilled into the hall, illuminating small dust particles that he tracked with his eyes and for a moment, fleeting and incomplete, a feeling of lonely contentment washed over him.

What must it be like in this house all alone? In this house with beautiful hallways and distant music and sunlight cooled by the painted glass art of long dead hands, what must it be like?

Dreamlike and dizzying. Terrifying.

His mind was wandering too far, wandering to the lacquered floorboards of Vlad’s home, the shelves of leather bound books, the staircases that went up and up and up, the piano he knew Vlad could play because he’d heard it just once.

A person could sink into a world such as this as easily as slipping to sleep.

It was a hollow, yet, overflowing cup of a realization. A nothing moment of endless possibilities, just a few steps to either side of determination.

Danny pulled himself from the spiral with a shake of his head, he had a suit to put on and a wedding to attend.

* * *

He stepped quietly into the last room Vlad had directed him too, feeling his presence even before he shut the door, gaze reaching to meet that deep blue.

“Why are you here, I know how to dress myself.”

Vlad sat on the room’s bed, how many guest rooms did the man even need, his eyes dragging slowly up him, “Keep telling yourself that.”

“Says the man who wears exclusively three peice suits and Packers merch, you wouldn’t know fashion if it hit you in the face.”

“And neither would you, little badger.”

Danny stiffened at the familiar nickname, Vlad hadn’t called him that in so long and hearing it now almost felt like letting out a breath he’d been holding in for far too long.

Vlad gestured beside him to a suit folded neatly on the sheets, “Go change in the bathroom and I’ll do the tie for you.”

“Who says I can’t tie one.”

Vlad smiled and it was a perplexing thing to see because it wasn’t antagonistic even while his voice sounded teasing as he spoke, “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out.”

Danny rolled his eyes, stalking forward to grab the suit from the bed, eyeing Vlad as he did, “You’re the main Vlad, why aren’t a clone?” He asked. A clone would have given off far less of Vlad’s ectosignature.

“Would you have preferred a clone?”

Danny didn’t answer the question, although his response would have been yes. “Aren’t you busy Mr. I’ll look good and let you have a wedding at my ridiculously big castle? Why not send a clone to do such a small job as putting my tie on?”

“I am, but I don’t want to risk someone who shouldn’t see two Vlads seeing me.” Vlad answered, pointing to the bathroom before glancing at a needlessly expensive wristwatch, “Now dress, the wedding starts in fifteen minutes.”

Danny wanted to grumble about being told to dress like he was some child, but he knew his appearance had already put everyone a bit behind schedule and arguing over it with Vlad was an exercise in futility.

The bathroom was large, larger than the one he’d seen in Vlad’s master bedroom in Amity, and yet it wasn’t gaudy. It was bathed in warm, soft tones, a clawfoot copper bathtub begging to be sunken into in the corner below a tinted window. The room exuded a slow, soft sort of comfort, the kind of comfort generally bound to lazy Sunday afternoons.

There was something about it, perhaps the pattern on the tile, the height of the counters, the expensive paintings on the wall, that made him feel small...yet coveted.

He ignored the odd feeling, informed the reflection in the mirror that wasn’t his because lives such as these were not meant to be indulged in by him.

Danny dressed, quick and quiet, eyes always tempted to stray back to the mirror and look at Dimitri, stare into his eyes in another man’s face. As he tugged on the jacket of the suit he could no longer deny himself that, pausing to look at the form he had created around himself, hand lifting to brush his glass jaw line, the mirror cool to the tips of his fingers.

He wondered what he looked like in a suit, what he really looked like. He hadn’t ever been one to dress fancily while he was ‘alive’. He tilted head, letting himself become Danny again, looking at his face, the way his shoulders were set, Vlad’s line ever across his neck.

He wasn’t looking forward to the conversation he knew they’d have to have.

He turned around in the mirror, opening his arms up. He actually looked pretty nice, if only he could have come to the wedding as himself h—

Danny shook his head, nope, that was the start of spiraling thoughts, best not to touch those.

Leaving the room he found Vlad standing in front of the bed, tie held securely in his hands, “Why are you yourself?” Vlad asked, looking him over as Danny came to stand next to him, collar flipped up expectantly.

“Wanted to see if I could pull off a suit.”

“Well it suits you,” Vlad said as he lifted the tie over Danny’s head, setting it down against his neck.

“Was that a pun?” Danny asked, trying to crane his head back a bit, finding Vlad’s proximity to him a bit overwhelming. He could smell Vlad’s cologne and aftershave, the scent leaving a tickle in the back of his throat, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. Deep like half forgotten memories.

He grit his teeth.

Vlad’s hands were near his neck and for once the fingers didn’t coil around his skin and crush his windpipe. There was no malice here, instead there was an energy Danny didn’t understand, an edge he couldn’t see over and he couldn’t grasp why, why Vlad’s fingers lingered so close to the mark around his neck, the mark that could bind them together forever.

For a beat, the inward breath of a second, Vlad’s fingers brushed his bare neck, touched the line that connected them and Danny dared not to look down at him because he could feel Vlad’s eyes boring holes into him and burning there.

“I hate you.” Danny reminded Vlad, reminded himself, the words laced with as much malice as he could muster in the quiet between them. It wasn’t much, wasn’t as much as he wanted there to be.

Practiced hands moved to loop the tie around itself, forming a knot and tightening it, smoothing the edges of his collar down, hands running over his shoulders momentarily to press against the fabric of the jacket.

“I know, Daniel.”

* * *

The main ceremony took place in Vlad’s gardens, the neatly lined rows of hedges opening to a wide square space under the spring sky. The chairs alongside the aisle were adorned with peonies, roses, and ferns, tied to their dark wicker sides with pink and white laces.

The aisle itself was laid out with a long, white carpet leading to two young birch trees. Growing towards one another their branches stretched out and tangled together to form a delicate arch. The arch was decorated with glowing glass bulbs that radiated a welcoming and deep warmth, the peonies, roses, and ferns coiled and curled within ivy that dripped from the limbs.

It was inescapably beautiful, a painting brought to life. The gentleness captured in the branches and lace something imagined made material.

People, friends and family, sat in their seats, ankles crossed one over the other in their suits and dresses. At the front Danny saw them there, his parents. Someone had convinced his Dad to dress nice and Danny wasn’t sure if it had been his mom or Vlad or Jazz, or perhaps all three.

Vlad was beside him, having walked with him towards the ceremony, but neither of them had spoken beyond Danny’s declaration. They needed too and they both knew it, but they didn’t.

Danny followed Vlad around like some lost puppy as Vlad sat near his parents. His dad was already crying into a large tissue, but his mom asked who he was, Vlad introducing them professionally.

It was odd to shake his mother’s hand as a stranger, odd to have his father’s hand clench hard around his is the same manner he would squeeze when he hugged someone.

He was pressed between them and Vlad and despite hating Vlad he found himself drawn closer to the man, scooting towards him in his chair.

His parents in this setting were not his parents, they were strangers and so was he, dissected from them and made inherently other.

Vlad though, Vlad knew who he was, what he was and in the crowd of people who saw through him he felt like a base, a place of hidden, unwanted stability.

If he told Vlad something the other man would hear it in his voice, see it in his eyes.

The music started up and the last of the wedding party took their places.

Valerie stood at the altar, dressed in a neat black suit accented with dark red and gold that glinted in her cufflinks. When had she gotten so tall?

She’d always been strong, but something about the cut of her collar, the press of her pants, the shine of her shoes, made her look even stronger, accentuated those parts of herself.

Danielle stood next to her, just below the altar in a long, flowing burgundy dress. Sam took her place across from them in a soft teal dress, Jazz’s favorite color, his sister’s maid of honor. She hadn’t mentioned that back in the room.

Jazz and Valerie had a few other bridesmaids, although Danny wasn’t particularly acquainted with any of them, friends from college and the like. They all smiled and held their flowers, waiting for Jazz to walk down the aisle.

The music changed, rose around them in the all too familiar cords he knew from just about every romcom Danny had ever been made to watch, or secretly indulged in.

Jazz came around the corner of the hedges, gossamer curtains that Danny hadn’t seen being lowered moved to the side to reveal her.

He had thought he had seen her back in the room, but even that had been a sliver of how she looked now, long white, form fitting lace dress moving with her every step, her red hair swept up into an immaculate, complex braided bun. She was ethereal.

Danny felt tears wet his eyes.

Vlad pressed a tissue into his hand and he was grateful for it.

Why had he given moments like these up?

Moments like these that make the heart swell and burn and need to be understood. He hadn’t comprehended what he was truly leaving behind, could not have even begun to.

Jasmine and Valerie looked into each other’s eyes and Danny ached.

* * *

Vlad’s ballroom was about as fancy as Danny remembered it, however, unlike at the reunion he’d attended so many years ago, the space was not cloaked in an ominous darkness. Instead, the ceiling dripped with gold and crystal chandeliers, refracting honey drenched light across warm, white tile floors.

Everyone ate and talked. Danny danced with Jazz, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie and Danielle, the latter two crying as he told them who he really was. Danielle hadn’t said much as he’d spoken to her, tears hot and frustrated in her eyes.

She said they would talk more later, had said she’d felt betrayed and Danny couldn’t blame her and he’d tried to say sorry, but she’d pulled away before their conversation could go much of anywhere.

Danny supposed he deserved that.

She’d come around, Danny knew her well enough to know that, to know that when she wanted to talk she would do so. He wouldn’t push her. They were alike in a number of ways and pushing her would only serve to drive her further away.

Valerie told him that the only reason why she didn’t kick his ass was because she was dressed too nicely and didn’t intend to cause a scene at her own wedding.

She didn’t ask why he left, but she also offered no semblance of forgiveness.

After two years Danny figured they had all settled into their ways of thinking about his disappearance. Showing up again wouldn’t fix things, wouldn’t heal things. He had damaged so many bonds and yet…

He looked over to Vlad who was sitting around a table, regaling guests and Danny’s parents with stories. Vlad had broken many bonds, more so even than Danny had, and yet… there he was, smiling as easy as breathing.

They cut the cake, gave speeches, everyone laughed, there was champagne, and wine, and good music, and laughter.

It was all beautiful and surreal and somewhere in it, somewhere in that dream like decadence, somewhere between his fourth or fifth drink or maybe his sixth, between the stories and the buttercream frosting, and the music, Danny decided what he wanted and his hand found Vlad’s own and started to tug.

Vlad looked up at him, perplexed. Daniel wasn’t one to touch him voluntarily and when he did it was almost always done with violence. “What are y-“

“Need to talk to you,” Danny said, tugging just a bit harder and managing to pry Vlad from his seat.

“Now?”

“Yes now, let’s go, dance let’s dance.”

Vlad grimaced, Daniel was champagne drunk and Vlad wasn’t in the mood to deal with him, especially not if he wanted to cause a fight. He was about to pull his hand away, put his foot down and say no, he wasn’t going to talk to him while he was tipsy, Jack spoke up.

“Come on Vladdie why not dance?” His large elbow pressed into Vlad’s side teasingly, “Dimitri here has only been staring at you for the entirety of the party.”

Vlad’s nose crinkled in disgust at the implication, Daniel’s face pulling a similar disgruntled and offended expression.

If Daniel had been watching him all evening it was because he was juvenilly on guard, waiting for Plasmius to pull some dastardly plot as if he was Amity’s inviso-bill again.

Nonetheless Daniel was insistent, hand still in his and tugging again.

“Talk, now.” He pressed and Vlad sighed but followed him out to the dance floor as an instrumental piece picked up, the strings slow but growing steadily.

“Do you even know how to dance, Dimitri?” He asked, not in the mood to look stupid.

“It can’t be that hard,Vladimir.” Danny replied with undue confidence that had Vlad rolling his eyes and moving to take the lead position.

“Why are we dancing?” He asked as he turned them about in time to the music around them, finding that although Daniel clearly didn’t know the steps he was picking up fairly fast, letting himself be led without argument.

“Asking to take you somewhere private would be too suspicious,” Danny responded, glancing over at his dad who looked like he was trying to give Vlad a thumbs up.

Vlad rolled his eyes as he saw, “Suppose you’re right,” he sighed, shifting to move them a bit closer to the center of the dance floor so Jack couldn’t keep awkwardly encouraging him. Or at least so he wouldn’t have to see him doing it. “Go on then what do you want to talk about.”

“I’ve realized something.”

“Oh you have, have you? Surprising since you never were too keen on learning.”

“Don’t be an asshole, this is important.”

“Fine, go on.”

“Our soul lines are going to connect,” Danny started, causing Vlad to quickly look him in the eyes, their steps faltering momentarily before Danny shifted his weight, urging them to move, “We’re going to live forever and whether we like it or not we’ll eventually end up interacting with each other enough to become soulmates.”

Vlad had realized that a long time ago, “I already knew that, it’s obvious.” He huffed, looking away and giving himself a few moments to indulge in the music, trying not to think of how easy it was to fall into the push and sway with Daniel who knew him well enough to follow in a style his body found easy. Perhaps it was a result of all their fights over the years but he found their arms and legs rather attuned to each other as they spun around, Daniel’s hand heavy but not uncomfortably so on his shoulder, his waist fitting to Vlad’s arm. “Why bring it up now?”

“Because I’m staying.”

This time when Vlad faltered it was far more obvious, causing him to trip over his own feet. Daniel’s hand moved down, wrapping around his waist to catch him on instinct, pressing their bodies closer than the two of them were really comfortable with as Daniel took over the lead, copying Vlad’s previous movements.

“Y-You’re staying?” Vlad asked, feeling out of breath.

“Not as me, not fully, and probably not for forever. That would make things too complicated. I’m not sure I can tell my parents now… if ever. But I want to be here for things like this,” Danny said with a nod.

Vlad didn’t know what to feel. Happy seemed the easy answer, although Daniel was never someone to make him feel such a thing, nor did he generally picture him as such. Relieved sounded better, although he knew that since Daniel didn’t want to talk to his parents their grief would not be soothed. Anxiety mixed within him as well, Daniel’s previous statement about their soul lines tangling with his decision to stay.

Daniel must have seen the myriad of emotions and questions in his eyes, speaking up before he could ask anything, “I’ll be staying with you, our lines will connect, it will be out of the way. I don’t care about all that ‘oh soulmates get along’ stuff, it won’t mean we like each other, because we don’t, but we won’t have to needlessly worry about it anymore.”

“Thought it all out, have you?” Vlad said, his mixed feelings falling away to a deep bitterness. Of course he’d gotten stuck with a soulmate who treated their bond as a necessary evil, something to ‘get out of the way’ like paperwork long procrastinated on. He’d never expected anything more, in fact he’d expected far less, yet hearing Daniel say it so bluntly, that he wasn’t worth anything more than being some item on his checklist stung in a way he hadn’t been ready for.

Daniel would bond them and then put him away.

Vlad had long given up finding someone else, but their pairing off would only cement that as true. He was never going to have another half, merely a stranger whose claim would loop around his neck like a noose, forcing them to be nothing to each other for all of eternity.

The idea sat sour at the back of his tongue and he pulled away, ending the dance.

“Fine.”

He left Daniel on the dance floor and if he went to the bar and drank something stronger than champagne then that was his business.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important note! Eidolon, Danny's fake last name is the Ancient Greek translation of the word Phantom or apparition. Interestingly this word can also mean an idealized image of a person, a version of the individual that may not be true and yet is believed to be perfect and I think that is neat. 
> 
> Are you curious about the title of today’s chapter? If so I’m glad and welcome to the notes! 
> 
> Carceri d’invenzione translates to "Imaginary Prisons" and it is the name of fourteen plate prints produced in 1749 by architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi. These prints depict sweeping, incredibly complex, and seemingly infinite structures.
> 
> I named the chapter this because A) I really enjoy Piranesi's art and B) because I feel like it reflects Danny and Vlad's state of mind. They imagine their potential soul bond to be a trap that is slowly, but surely closing in on them. To them it is an inescapable and terrifying fact of their existence. This "prison" of unwanted attachment however is imaginary, formed only between the two of them and their own social interactions, when in reality it is a blessing for both of them, the promise of companionship within their infinite lifetimes. They currently view each other as shackles, when in actuality they could represent each other’s freedom. 
> 
> Piranesi's art and a lot of art inspired by his work touch on, at least in my opinion and in the opinion of some critics of his (critics used here in research terms not in a they take issue with the art way), touch on these themes of what we perceive to be reality, both good and bad. Piranesi depicts human figures in his work, they are so small, they are in places in the large buildings that would take hours to get to, or sometimes in places that would be impossible to get to at all. Being human, perhaps in a loose sense, the viewer is drawn to them and can relate to them, yet this relation is known to cause anxiety as the spaces around these people are just too big. They remind us of how small we are in comparison to the infinite and this can be frightening. However, it can also be the source of a profound comfort and that’s why I personally take an interest in Piranesi’s art. 
> 
> Vlad and Danny's lives are the infinite personified, as are the lives of all immortal beings. We cannot in totality wrap our mind around what forever means, and yet, we create characters doomed to experience it, depict spaces designed to display it. I think people have a fascination with infinity, with forever, and I find that in and of itself very interesting.
> 
> I recommend looking into Piranesi’s work and works inspired by his art, including but certainly not limited to, the book Piranesi by Susanna Clarke and the game Manifold Garden. 
> 
> Fun fact! It could be argued, and by this it means I would personally argue, that parts of the Souls games and Bloodborne take inspiration from Piranesi, mixing in the appearance of layering into their Gothic architecture to create huge, seemingly fathomless, bottomless spaces. So if you like those games you may like his art!
> 
> Also, if you are into dark academia, cuz that’s a mood, I especially recommend his art and art inspired by it because it does have a lot of those vibes.
> 
> Lastly, if you look at "Imaginary Prisons" and enjoy it then definitely check the rest of his stuff out and watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm5Ogh_c0Ig 
> 
> "The shape of infinity"
> 
> it came out so recently and it’s such a good starting spot for works like Piranesi’s! I saw it and freaked out a little!
> 
> I think that is what life is about, finding beauty in the unexpected spaces and just really vibing with it!
> 
> Have a good day uwu  
> Kudos and comments as always are much appreciated!


	10. We put you away.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny and Danielle really need to have a talk, unfortunately some things can’t be fixed with just an "I’m sorry."

* * *

The day after Danny’s return.

* * *

Danny woke up slowly, the morning coming to him in the gentle blue grays of the sunrise. Somewhere in the distance piano music was playing, although that may have just been his mind playing tricks on him as he curled back under the covers to drift in almost dreams.

He let the melodies drag him under, consciousness sliding along the cords. He buried his face in his pillow and smiled, he was warm and comfortable. He never fell fully back to sleep, but that was alright. Listening to the notes floating through the air, feeling the warmth of the sun through the windows, that was enough.

He stretched, feeling the pull and tremble of his muscles as he tightened, arms raising above his head and then it hit him fully where he was.

Vlad’s Wisconsin castle.

He sat up, hair askew as he tossed the blankets aside and looked down at himself to see that yes, he was in fact currently Danny. He hadn’t been when he’d gone to bed, he could remember that much.

Vlad had stalked away from him, clearly angry about something although Danny couldn’t for the life of him figure it out. Vlad had said he wanted him to come back, well la de da he was back and Vlad was angry about it? Fucking fruitloop and his damned mood swings.

He had gone to the bar to get something stronger, but Vlad had already been there which had pissed him off more. He’d wanted to hound Vlad on what had crawled up his ass and fucking died there, but he’d known it would start a fight. He couldn’t have that.

So he’d ignored Vlad and drunk. A bad habit. Awful habit. But hey, it was Jazz’s wedding he could have a little scotch… or more than a little.

At some point the bartender had told him he should stop and Danny had told him where he could stick it, the next thing Danny remembered was Vlad showing him a guest room. Danny had been mumbling that he hated Vlad and Vlad had looked so, so tired.

At least he didn’t have much of a hangover, that was a little perk of his powers, substances metabolized out of his system quickly. Downside was that this went for everything from coffee to all hard painkillers. Well, almost all hard painkillers. Whatever it was down in Vlad’s lab, the halfa medicine, that shit lingered. He could still remember how long he’d felt fuzzy after being injected following his tumble onto city hall. The stuff could probably kill a human.

Stretching again he stood from the bed, taking a look around the large guest bedroom. It was about what he’d come to expect, gothic design flairs, books in a few of the shelves, a pointless painting or two. The adjoining bathroom was nearly identical to the one he’d dressed in the day before and Danny wondered how many of Vlad’s rooms were like this, copy pasted renditions of each other crammed into the castle like cookie cutter honeycombs in a hive.

He found a set of clothes waiting for him on the white marble counter, a Packers t-shirt and grey sweatpants. He shrugged them on without much complaint. At least he wasn’t in another suit. He looked good in one but damn were they stuffy how did Vlad stand it. Maybe it was a body temperature thing? Danny preferred to be nice and cool because of his core, maybe Vlad liked being hot in his clothes. But if that was the case why didn’t he wear a huge fur coat or something all year round, he had enough money for one.

Placing his questions aside he peaked out into the hall. The piano music was still playing, although he wasn’t quite sure where it was coming from. The acoustics of the house distorting the sound as it reverberated off too high ceilings and winding hallway alcoves.

It was then that he saw her, standing against a balcony railing across from his room.

They were separated by the opening into the foyer, the bars of oak wood and the empty air between them keeping them apart.

Danielle.

Her eyes caught his, both that same startling blue, and she glanced at the matching set of curved stairs at the end of each of their halls. Danny nodded with understanding and stepped out of his room fully.

She walked with him, a mirror, on the other side, stepping in time together down the stairs, hand sliding on the railing.

They met at the base of the stairs, the piano music was closer now and Danny had never heard the song before.

Danielle spoke first, “I didn’t want to talk at the wedding— it wasn’t the time for it”

Danny nodded, feeling nerves tighten in his gut. He had given her space, time to think over what she wanted to say to him. But he hadn’t expected her to come up with an answer so soon, “Can we uh, maybe get some coffee first?” He asked, rubbing the back of his neck and looking back passed the foyer to where he remembered the kitchen being.

She walked off towards it, not saying a word and Danny swallowed thickly. He knew she was angry at him, she had every right to be, but the tenseness in the atmosphere was stifling.

“Where’s the music coming from?” He managed to ask, wanting to talk about something, anything, other than the elephant in the room they were going to have to address once he got some caffeine in his system.

“Vlad.”

“I’ve only even heard him play once, why right now?” It seemed like an oddly ominous time to be playing, the morning of his return. He wouldn’t put it past the man though. Vlad was dramatic as hell.

“He practices in the mornings.” Danielle answered simply, her words clipped, cold.

Danny tried to continue the conversation, “You say that like you’ve heard the fruitloop do it regularly.” He joked, then winced as she turned around and looked at him over her shoulder.

“I have, I live with him part time. Only a few days a month, but I know his schedule.”

That made Danny falter, “Wait, wait, wait, you actually hang around with Vlad?”

She turned from him and shrugged as they stepped into the kitchen, hand drifting over the countertop to feel the cool of it. There was a coffee pot already running, she reached up into a cabinet to pull out two mugs, both with Packers logos which didn't surprise Danny. What did surprise him was the ease with which she moved about the kitchen, how she knew which cupboards and drawers to open. In a place as large as this it was a clearly practiced action.

“People change.”

Danny snorted in through his nose as Danielle sat some sugar and creamer down on the kitchen island. “Not Vlad.”

“Danny, you’ve been dead for two years. You don’t know anything anymore.”

Danny tensed, eyes narrowing at her, “I know Vlad is Vlad. Period.”

She turned from him, pouring them their drinks and then handing Danny his own. He shoveled sugar into his mug and stirred a bit too fast for it to be normal, anger leaking into the motions.

“He’s mellowed, not to mention he’s the only one of us who never gave up looking for you.”

Danny looked up from where he’d begun to add creamer, staring at her, searching her face for the lie she must have just told him, but he found nothing to betray her words. “You— you gave up on me?”

“I did.”

It was a soft confession, but stern and laced with a bitterness no sugar or cream could mask.

She let out a heavy sigh, “I’ve done some growing up Danny. You left… I was still so young and confused about being a halfa, about being your clone and you left me. You left everyone yes, but you especially left me because we… we’re different. We had solidarity. We were half ghosts together and we hated Vlad and we understood what it was like to live like this and you left.”

Her voice cracked, she pressed her palm to her left eye and bore down momentarily to force back the tears. She took a shuddering breath in and then a long drink of her coffee, floating up to settle on the kitchen island. “I looked for you. I searched the whole ghost zone it seemed, over and over. I yelled at Clockwork, at everyone, I was so angry. I was so alone.”

Danny hadn’t… Danny hadn’t thought about that, about how she would feel.

The truth was, Danny had thought very little of other people’s feelings in the months before his supposed death.

He hadn’t seemed to have had room for it, his thoughts consumed with his impending disappearance, his plan, how others would talk him out of it.

There was only one other halfa in existence and Vlad wasn’t exactly good company. Danny had left her to that, to that loneliness he knew well enough, that loneliness that fully human friends just couldn’t quite fill.

It had to have been even worse for her. Vlad hurt him, beat him, tried to kill his father, and take his mom, but Vlad had made Danielle. The pressure of that link alone had filled her with pain in the years before he had left and he had known that, but he’d still left without her, without a goodbye.

“I worked myself to the bone looking for you,” she stared into her cup of coffee, eyes steadily beginning to glow green, teeth set hard in her mouth to grind out the words, “I searched until I couldn’t see straight. One night I stumbled through Vlad’s portal-”

Danny’s eyes widened with fear. Had he hurt her? Had Vlad taken advantage of the situation and hurt her like he’d used to, like he’d used to hurt all of the clones? Did he trap her? Experiment on her?

“He took care of me.”

Her eyes met his, steady, sure, and able to wipe away all of his questions despite how his mind screamed at him that Vlad didn’t do such things. Vlad didn’t just take care of people while they were down, while he could gain something from them.

He did though.

Vlad had done that for Danny the day he’d fallen onto city hall, when he tumbled from the sky like some struck angel to ruin himself in stark smears of blood across the roof and bushes.

Vlad could have hurt him then, but he hadn’t.

He’d done nothing but help Danny and Danny had done nothing but turn his nose up at him and stalk off. A while later he’d told Danny he was leaving, had been upfront about their potential to be soulmates and left when he could have kept it a secret until they bonded and trapped Danny with him against his will. A few years later he had shown the same care when talking to him about their immortality on his balcony. He could have twisted his words, lied, or found a way to hurt Danny more. But he hadn’t, he had simply told Danny the truth and laid out the options before him.

Vlad did take care of people.

Vlad tried to get him to come back, had asked him to stay, had searched for him. He’d told him about Jazz’s wedding and agreed to let them be bonded despite obviously not wanting it, giving him a place to sleep in the process.

He’d been nothing but caring now for a long time…

Danny downed the rest of his coffee, he didn’t care if it burnt. He didn’t want to think of Vlad like that, to hear it. Vlad was bad, he was good. End of story.

Danielle pressed on anyway, “He let me sleep over, made sure I ate, made sure I rested. We started looking together and Danny there were times when we fought together, when some rouge ghost would get out of hand and he was there and you know who wasn’t?”

Danny put his mug down harshly, the ceramic clicking too loud on the marble island. He didn’t want to hear this.

“You.”

He sneered, lips pulling back to expose his grown in fangs, energy seething through him until his mug burst, sending the last dregs of his coffee and chipped ceramic everywhere.

Danielle didn’t seem phased in the slightest, flashing her own fangs at him. When had she grown up? When had she gone from his excitable, troublemaking clone to who she was now, determined and unphasable, strong but laced with anger?

“Follow me, now.”

She left the kitchen without waiting for him, not looking back to see if he had followed, but he did despite his anger, knowing that they needed to talk, knowing that he owed her that much.

They moved through the house, the piano music was still playing and it was starting to get on Danny’s nerves but he didn’t say anything about it. How could he? They were already knee deep in a conversation he was rapidly realizing he was nowhere near ready for.

They walked back up the stairs and down another hallway, moving up yet another flight until they were at a large set of double doors. Danny stiffened as they appeared. He’d been here before, sort of, he knew where they were at least.

Vlad’s master bedroom.

“Why are we here?” Danny asked as Danielle opened the door with little hesitation and no fear despite the fact that Vlad was down stairs on that damn piano and absolutely knew where they were in the house.

Wasn’t he going to storm up and tell them to get the fudge away from his stuff? Didn’t she know that?

It seemed that Danny was the one who didn’t know what was going on because despite being sure that Vlad would appear he didn’t and they simply strolled into the space, as easy as breathing.

Danielle walked over to a dresser drawer and picked up a large leather bound book, shoving it at Danny and he realized it was the photo album he had seen years ago at Vlad’s surprise birthday party.

“Why are y-“

“You’ve missed two years, catch up, we’ve got places to be.”

“Places?” He mumbled, not understanding as he opened up the book. The first few pages were the pictures he had already seen before, pictures of his parents and Vlad in college, but then there were more, far more than before.

There were pictures of Maddie the cat, pictures of his parents as they were now, down in the lab laughing with Vlad or out hiking. There were pictures of them fishing, pictures of a disgruntled Vlad on an air mattress in the woods, hair all messy. There were a few shots of his dad falling from a boat into a lake and a few of his mom threatening various forms of wild life with an absolutely unnecessary weapon.

The pictures continued as he turned the pages, eyes wide as he did. He walked backwards, unseeing, trying to take it in as he sat down on Vlad’s bed, confused and filled with an emotion he wasn’t familiar with.

There was Sam and Tucker at a party, smiling for the camera. There were pictures of Tucker in Vlad’s lab, pictures of him and Sam and Danielle all golfing together with Vlad, although Sam didn’t look particularly enthused.

Dozens and dozens of pictures flew by, ones of Valerie and Jazz planning their wedding, ones of Danielle playing with Maddie the cat and at her high school graduation, candid shots of Vlad looking affronted when caught off guard and everyone seemed happy… terribly, terribly happy.

Danny made it to the last page and there, tucked neatly into a plastic square was a picture of him.

It wasn’t much, just some old picture of when he had taken a vacation with his family to the Grand Canyon. Vlad must have got it from his parents, but Danny couldn’t grasp why. Why would he even want it?

Next to the picture was a sleeve that was bulkier than the others. Inside was a carefully folded section of newspaper.

Gently Danny slid it from its container, fingers trembling at the feeling of the thin paper against his fingers. At the front there was a picture of him, a high school picture day photo to be exact and when he unfolded it his eyes welled with tears.

His obituary.

Vlad had kept it for two long years right there in the back of his photo album.

Why?

Danny couldn’t understand why. Why the fuck did he care so much? Why did he bother? Why did Vlad look for him?

He pressed his hand to his mouth as he read, bowing over with the grief that filled him at seeing the paper.

It had been hard enough to hide from his funeral, but to see it he… he couldn’t stand it.

Danielle remained silent, letting him process it, letting it hit him.

He didn’t know what to say, sadness choking back his words as he read the words before him. Some of them were true, but others were pretty lies and he supposed most people’s lives were like that, half made things split between the ideal and the real, the wants and the acquired.

He hadn’t been a bright college student with his whole life ahead of him as his obituary claimed. No, he’d been an average student who had already died years ago and just so happened to be looking down the long, cold barrel of an eternal existence, a concept human brains could not even rightly wrap themselves around.

His was a life, a death, incomprehensible.

How was he supposed to cope with that, with forever, when the idea of it was beyond him, beyond anyone except perhaps maybe Clockwork?

How were any of them supposed to?

“I’m sorry.” He managed if only barely.

“Yeah, well, wish sorry would take it back.” Danielle answered, cold and as he looked up he saw that her eyes were still that bright toxic green.

“Danielle you have to understand—”

“Oh I do.”

His mouth snapped shut, frustration filling him. He knew he should have said goodbye damnit and he knew she was mad, but she had no right to say that she knew what he was going though, why he had left. “I-”

“No Danny. Don’t you dare tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about because I do. Want to know why?” She started, pulling the photo album and obituary away from him, tucking it back into place and setting it on the dresser, “Because I live through the same shit everyday. You were scared of living forever so you left. You were scared of watching Sam and Tucker die, so you ran. Well? How do you think I feel, huh? I could be immortal too! I worry about bonding with people who will die too!”

Her hands were glowing with ectoenergy, voice raised and strained with grief and anger, “I understand being scared of it but fuck Danny you left me alone with this…” she gestured to the whole of her self, letting herself transform into her ghost form, “You left me alone just like Vlad did… you knew I was scared of that, of people leaving me again, and you just fucking left.”

Shame filled him, brimming over in his chest. She was right. She was right and he knew it. She had been abandoned by Vlad for years and she’d been so worried for so long that Valerie and her father might do the same. She had always lived on that edge, that fear of wondering when you were going to lose someone, worrying that one wrong move would be what set them off and you wound up alone again all the while questioning whether you were good enough to even have someone stay with you in the first place.

And he’d left.

One of the very, very few people who could understand her, who knew her and her struggles and he’d left.

“Look Danielle it’s complicated, and I know I fucked up, bad, but I’m here now and I’m staying.”

She turned from him, “Not like I haven’t heard that before.” She huffed, waving over her back for him to follow.

He did as he had before, following her obediently through the house. Vlad had stopped playing the piano and as he reached out to find his ectosignature he found that the house was empty. He must have left. The idea of it confused him, although he was starting to think that confusion would be commonplace for a while.

Still, it spoke a lot of Vlad’s trust in Danielle that he would leave to go somewhere while knowing full well that she had free range of his house. It also spoke to how much he believed she could control Danny, keep him there after all his running. Or perhaps Vlad had chosen to place a small bit of trust in Danny himself. He frowned, he didn’t really like the sound of that. It was just too odd. He and Vlad weren’t meant to trust one another, weren’t meant to let each other simply exist.

They made their ways out of the foyer, opening the front doors and stepping out into the cool morning. It may have technically been spring but it was still rather brisk this early in the morning.

Danielle floated up into the sky, looking back at him expectantly until he transformed into Phantom and followed her into the air.

* * *

A while later they were back in Amity, cool wind whipping around their faces as they landed at the outskirts of town, on a hill Danny knew all too well.

Here… she had brought him here.

He grimaced as they landed in the grass, trees moving with the breeze, just budding trees painting the space around them a soft green.

Danny’s gaze swept over the nearby gravestones with a frown. He had hoped to never come here, had hoped to avoid the place he’d been buried.

It didn’t seem as if Danielle would be kind enough to grant him that.

She walked away from him, Danny continuing to trail behind to where he knew they were going, the gravel of the pathway crunching under their feet.

“Probably best if you were Dimitri.” Danielle said after a short moment of silence, “Just in case your parents are here. They still visit you.”

Danny winced at her passive aggressive tone, but said nothing, changing into the body that wasn’t his as they turned around a corner and stopped at a gravestone.

‘Here lies Daniel Fenton.’

It wasn’t anything fancy. Really it was what one might expect, a simple rectangular stone slab with words cut into it. It looked like the dozens of graves around it, a few wilted flowers at its feet and perfectly, painfully ordinary.

Here in the ground he was perfectly normal. Average.

His clone was long since gone, but his casket was buried in the earth and really that was all that mattered. The idea that he was dead was stronger than the fact of his half life. The illusion of it was enough,

“Why did you bring me here?” He knew what graves looked like, knew what half wilted flowers and overgrown weeds looked like.

“You need to see it.”

No. He didn’t.

“It’s a grave.”

“It’s your grave.”

He knew that! His hands balled to fists, fingers pressing hard against his palms. “Me being here puts you in danger! Puts all of you in danger! That’s why I left! Don't you understand that? Because D-”

“Because of Dan.”

Danny’s words choked in his throat, frozen. He hadn’t told Danielle about Dan.

Had Vlad told her?

Had he shared such a heavy knowledge as that with her?

“Don’t you think I’m scared of that too Danny? Of snapping? Of losing control and hurting people?” Her voice broke like it had back in Vlad’s bedroom the anger and stress bleeding to a sadness that begged to be seen and heard and understood.

Danny turned to her, something heavy clicking into place in his mind as he saw her expression.

“I could be Dan too…” She didn’t stop the tears when then came this time, staring at him and forcing him to see her, all of her and the pain she carried, “Didn’t you ever think about that? Vlad used to be awful like that… you could be awful like that and I… no one wanted to talk about it with me. You hid it from me and I know Vlad doesn’t think it’s his place to talk to me about the dangers of slipping when he’s just starting to get his footing back so who the fuck is going to be there when I lose myself!?”

“Danielle I didn’t mean too…” More like he hadn’t known, he hadn’t thought it through that much, hadn’t realized that if grief had turned Vlad into a monster and had the potential to turn him into a monster then Danielle was at risk too.

“You didn’t think! You didn’t take one second to think about someone other than yourself!”

“I thought of everyone but myself for years!”

“Then you could have done it just one more time, Danny!” She yelled and it was selfish in its own way, but what Danny had done was far, far more selfish and if he thought things were just going to go back to normal between them then he was dead wrong.

“And now… now you come back out of nowhere after I’d given up! After I’d told myself I’d gotten over it! What if you leave again? Am I supposed to grieve for you? Do you think I’m going invest myself emotionally in someone who could just fucking leave again!”

“Oh like Vlad couldn’t just leave again! Did you forget how he left you here for years!”

“I didn’t! But at least he’s trying. You’re just trying to waltz your way back into our lives and expecting everyone to want you back!”

Danny stumbled back at her words, at the insinuation. Energy flared between his fingers, ice cold and dangerous, powers whipping up around him even as he tried to suppress them.

“We buried you!” She cried, pushed out the words with every inch of conviction she could muster, face red, eyes green and flaring and angry, so, so angry, “And maybe you should have stayed that way, dead!”

Danellie startled at her own words, at having voiced something she had thought, but had never believed she would verbalize. She had learned to live without Danny. She had gone to high school, graduated, started college, become an adult officially even if she didn’t always feel like it. She had learned to fight better in the Ghost Zone, had come to understand her own core, and was maturing. She was living in a post Danny world. She had come to accept that pain and grief and he had the audacity to show back up and think a simple sorry would do.

Still, she hadn’t meant to say it out loud, to admit that maybe she didn’t want Danny around anymore, that maybe the threat of him leaving all over again was too much to bear compared to the already well known pain of him simply being gone.

She could see the pain and anger in Danny’s eyes, the confusion she had left him with, but she couldn’t take her words back because they were true.

“What did you just say?” Danny asked, voice coming out from between his fangs too calm for the moment, too steady, the syllables clipping against his palette in short, demanding tones.

He was seething.

She took a few steps back.

Energy crackled up his arms and he shook with rage. If he grit his teeth any harder they would shatter in his skull like plates from a tipped over cupboard, a million porcelain pieces slicing into his gums and cheeks and tongue.

“Danny I-” What the fuck was she supposed to say? What did you say after you admitted that you had preferred it when someone was gone? When you had begun to take some semblance of comfort in that certainty and in the person you had become because of it? What did you say when you were nowhere near ready to forgive or forget?

She didn’t know.

She moved to turn away, to leave, to run like Danny had because she wasn’t sure what else to do. She hadn’t meant to hurt Danny, but she couldn’t lie to him. She couldn’t pretend everything was okay. She couldn’t act like he fit into her life anymore. It had been two years and maybe in the long run that wasn’t a lot but it had been enough.

It had been enough to hurt her like nothing ever had before, not even Vlad, and that pain, that change, wasn’t something she could simply put away overnight. Danny couldn’t smile and say ‘well guys I really screwed up this time, huh?’ then have everything be fine. Not with her. Not with this.

As she turned Danny snapped, reaching out for her, grabbing her hand hard to force Danielle to stay, to force her to answer for what she’d said to him. He intended to demand answers, yet all his anger fell away the moment he made contact with her skin.

She screamed, wrenching her hand away and as she did Danny realized what he had done.

Blood bloomed heavy and damning across her wrist, skin seared open to expose the muscle. It didn’t seem deeper than that, but the wound was unmistakable.

A ghostray burn.

Danny trembled, looking down at his hand, heartbeat rising to a fever pitch in his chest, drowning out the world around him as he stared at his shaking fingers, covered in Danielle’s blood.

His ears rang.

He had… he had hurt her.

Vlad was one thing, he was, he was a villain, a monster. He hurt people… but Danielle was innocent.

He was dizzy, he didn’t, he didn’t mean to! “D-Dani I—!” He looked up at her eyes wild and panicked, overwhelmed and lost as words he couldn’t even hear began to spill from him, “I’m sorry.. I’m sorry, fuck Dani, fuck I didn’t mean, really, Dani I didn’t mean to—”

He saw his own clone there in her tearful, pained expression, in the blood sliding down her arms to pearl off in bright crimson strands that dripped to the grass below.

He saw himself, beaten, bruised, and blooded under him in the water.

She was a reflection of him and in her, in this anxiety ridden, panicked moment he couldn’t help but to remember his so-called death and it terrified him.

His hands reached towards his hair, fingers clenching in the strands.

He didn’t want to think about that!

He didn’t want to remember the burns he’d given his clone, the blood staining the water, the smell of iron and fear and death. He didn’t want to remember the screaming, the rage, the pain he could feel as his clone had frozen in the ice, wounds aching and exposed, bones shattered.

His chest was tight, breath coming fast but he couldn’t seem to gulp in any real air. It was all that damned lake water, drowning him again, filling him until the world was ringing and muffled and so, so far away.

The sky danced, spots bursting across his vision as the sun parted and swirled like light over water, drifting with a current quickly sweeping him under.

His hands ached, burned, froze. His nails bit into a rock, into that rough grain, nails on chalkboard texture.

He was kicking under him, flailing, yelling at himself. He lifted the rock and swung it down over and over and over again until that wet thudding drilled itself between his eyes and deep into his frontal lobe.

His skull was open, his brain exposed and pulsing, bone too white and glaring up at him and then he wasn’t… then it was Vlad under him, telling him to stop, calling out to him as Danny punched him until his world swirled and spun in the red of his spilled blood.

Someone was talking to him, someone was saying something, but it was muffled like there were earplugs in his ears or perhaps his eardrums had gone and shredded themselves.

Arms were around him then.

Vlad’s?

He wasn’t sure, he remembered the bathroom, he remembered the older halfa trying to hold him, trying to keep him there and now, now someone was trying to keep him somewhere again but he wasn’t sure why.

He swayed, he felt dizzy, like waking up in the middle of the night while sick, still dreaming and burning, nausea pushing at your throat. He felt like he was going to throw up.

He wondered if it would be red, if it would be blood, or maybe it would be green ectoplasm.

Something was wrong. Something was wrong. Something was wrong.

He tipped over, collapsing, the world spinning on a dime until with a flash of pain darkness overtook him.

* * *

The day after Daniel’s return

* * *

  
Vlad had been in a meeting when he’d received Danielle’s call, politely stepping out of the board room to answer.

Her voice was steady, but it betrayed a false sense of calm and control. “Vlad we have a little bit of a problem.”

The statement made his blood run cold. He glanced down and up the hall in case someone was watching. He didn’t like to have stressful phone conversations around other people who could eavesdrop, especially when those calls might involve certain non-human goings on. “What’s wrong?”

“Well I may have taken Danny to his grave...”

“To his— you took Daniel to his grave, the very same Daniel that we know is potentially unstable.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath in.

He hated getting mad at Danielle, hated the edge his voice had taken as he spoke. It reminded him too much of who he had been before. It made the changes feel like a mask that could slip at any moment, it made his growth feel irrelevant and inadequate but…

He wouldn’t feel that way if he was faking. If he was pretending to grow as a person he’d be fine with a slip, he might feel frustrated, but he wouldn’t feel guilty. Vlad reminded himself of this, trying to relax as she began to speak again.

“I thought he needed it but things… things got heated, I maybe said some stuff I shouldn’t have and then I tried to leave and he grabbed me and hurt me—”

“He what!” So much for the calm he’d been trying to settle into, all notions of relaxing thrown immediately out the window as he pressed his phone quickly to his chest, stalking back into his board meeting, “Meetings over. Now.”

“But sir we a-” one of his employees protested quickly before seeing the look of his face and clamming up.

Vlad gathered his papers and shoved them into a briefcase, pulling the phone backup to his ear where Danielle had begun to ramble.

“It wasn’t much! Just a burn on my wrist where he grabbed me and I could tell he didn’t mean it, he freaked out, started breathing really fast. I tried to calm him down, but he didn’t seem to hear me and then he passed out! He hit his head hard against the grave. There was a lot of blood.”

“Head wounds always bleed a lot because of vein placement.” Vlad said as he rushed down the stairs, heeled shoes clicking on the stone as he left the building to go to his car. It would be too suspicious if he left the meeting in a hurry only to leave his car behind. He’d take it back to the castle then go from there.

“Yeah I know, it wasn’t bad, not really. I took him to your Amity place, cleaned the wound, put him in a guest room.”

“I can be there in half an hour, I’m putting the car away and then I’ll teleport over. Is he otherwise stable?”

“Still asleep, but I don’t think he’ll run if he wakes.”

Vlad nodded to himself, “How are you doing?”

Danellie took a long time to answer and Vlad could hear her take a few shaking breaths over the line before sighing heavily, “I’m not sure. You know how I feel about him. Maybe I wasn’t ready to talk about it.”

Probably not, but Vlad knew the feeling of wanting to tell someone what they had done to you, how they had made you feel. He knew how the words could push at the back of your throat and spill out when you didn’t want them too.

“It’s alright,” he assured as he pulled his car into his driveway and parked before teleporting.

He appeared in the front hall of his Amity home, taking a moment to collect himself. Teleporting that far was troublesome even for him, his core giving an angry buzz at all the energy he’d demanded it expend all at once.

Danielle appeared in front of him, floating down from a higher level of the house. She looked as distressed as she’d sounded on the phone which she clicked off as they caught sight of one another.

“Can I see your hand?” He asked as she approached and then did something she hadn’t really done before.

She came forward, pressing to his chest arms wrapping around him as she heaved a shuddering sigh he knew was laced with tears even though he couldn’t see her face anymore.

“I said I wished he’d stayed dead.”

“Oh.” That certainly would have set Daniel off, but right now he was more worried about what voicing such a thought must have done to her. He wrapped his arms around her too, a hand finding her hair and running through it gently, “It’s okay, that’s okay,”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“I know,” he tried to comfort her, but it had never been a strong suit of his. His family hadn’t been too keen on physical or emotional comfort and he wasn’t adjusted well enough socially to know what words he should say. He was still learning how to be there for other people but… he was glad she had called him, glad she was hugging him now, trusted him in that way.

“I’m a horrible person.” She whispered against his suit, smearing the fabric with tears.

“You are not.”

She shook her head hard. She had never meant to say such a thing to Danny. He had been her friend for so long and even if he hadn’t been he didn’t deserve to be told he was better off dead.

It wasn’t as if she actually wanted Danny to stop existing, it was just… “I’m scared he’ll leave again and it will hurt all over.”

Vlad knew that feeling very well and although he wasn’t sure what to say he felt the need to confide that to her, “I worry about that with Jack and Maddie.”

“But they’re not going to leave.”

“Doesn’t change the worry,” Vlad said, pulling back a bit to give her some room to take some much needed breaths. He knew that as things were now Jack and Maddie weren’t likely to kick him out of their lives again. Yet he worried everyday that once his secret came out, as it mostly likely would have to eventually, that they would push him away again. He didn’t want to feel that pain, but he knew it was a possibility.

“Let me see your wrist.” He said to change the subject, realizing from the look on her face that she would need some time to ruminate on what had happened, on what it would mean for her and Daniel’s relationship to each other.

She held out her hand which she’d already bandaged up. The work was clean and practiced, sure in itself even when her emotions were tumultuous. Vlad expected nothing less of her.

“Have you taken anything for it?” He asked, already knowing the answer before she nodded in response.

“It wasn’t bad so I just took some ibuprofen.”

“Not so bad for us is horrible for everyone else,” he half laughed, thinking of how her skin would have been seared to the muscle from a ghostray at such close range.

She smiled, shrugging lightly, “Yeah well what else is new. I’ll be healed in an hour or so.” She looked down the hall, to the stairs there at the end, “He’s still asleep if you want to check him out.”

He nodded and the two of them made their way up to the guest room where Daniel was laid against the mattress, head bandaged. He was breathing fine and looked relaxed.

“He tipped over, smashed right against the headstone, cracked his skull a bit but otherwise fine.” She said as he looked Daniel over.

There wasn’t much to see. Danielle had fixed him up expertly and Vlad could tell by the amount of red peaking through the cotton wrappings that he wasn’t bleeding anymore.

“You did good.” He said and she nodded before coming to stand beside him, looking down at Daniel with a conflicted expression.

“I think I’m going to stay at the Grey’s for a few days. Clear my head.”

“That may be for the best,” he offered up softly before adding, “You know you can talk about these things with me though, right?”

“You sound so awkward when you say stuff like that,” she laughed lightly, “But yeah, I know.”

She left him with that, leaving him alone with Daniel.

He sat down in his quiet, otherwise empty house, settling into a chair near the bed. It was for the best that Daniel did not wake up alone. He had had a bad panic attack before passing out most likely due to hyperventilating, hitting his head on the way down.

He would wake up disoriented and in pain in Vlad’s house and Vlad knew from experience that such situations could make Daniel rather testy. The last thing he needed was a Daniel who didn’t feel safe.

* * *

When Danny woke his head was throbbing dully, a heavy thudding that bore down against the left side of his forehead.

He groaned, hand lifting to rub against the pain, only to find gauze under his fingertips.

He opened his eyes, looking up at an all too familiar white ceiling, finding a soft mattress and sheets beneath his body.

Vlad’s Amity mansion? But that would mean that…

The previous few hours started to come back to him. Dani taking him to his grave, their argument, what he’d done, everything slipping and falling away to nothing, what had happened?

A hand settled steady on his shoulder, “Daniel.”

Danny groaned again, louder this time. He was absolutely not in the mood to deal with Vlad right now, “I don’t know what happened but whatever it is could you fuck off?”

“You had a panic attack and passed out, hit your head on your gravestone, cracked your skull. Danielle patched you up.”

Looks like Vlad wasn’t going to be fucking off.

He shifted to sit up, hating how Vlad’s hand slid down his back to offer support as if he were weak. It was a damn cracked skull, nothing he hadn’t dealt with before.

“Where is she? Is she okay?”

“She’s fine, Daniel. You burnt her arm, but she knows you didn’t mean to. It was an accident.”

Danny looked down at his hands, flexing his fingers inwards to his palms and then out again. Why did he keep hurting people? First Vlad and now this. He couldn’t even blame this time on alcohol, he’d just been upset. What was wrong with him?

“She said she wished I hadn’t come back.”

“She didn’t mean it like that,” Vlad said, voice soft in a way Danny almost found comforting, “She’s just scared of you leaving, she’d just gotten used to you being gone. She doesn’t think she could handle the grief of it if you were to disappear again.”

“She’s letting you get closer, why not me?” There was an edge of bitterness to his voice, but Danny buried it. He didn’t want to be upset anymore, he knew it was better to simply swallow it down.

“Danielle cares far more about you than she does me. She has come to expect very little of me… but you, she placed a lot of trust in you and that’s been broken.” Vlad sighed, heavy and tired. He was glad that Danielle was starting to trust him and he didn’t want to lose that, but he knew he would never be as close to her as he should have been. He’d lost too much ground, made too many mistakes. “She looked up to you. There’s a lot to mend.”

Danny was quiet for a long time, looking out the window to the city he’d left behind. It looked different in the afternoon light than it had Christmas night, warm and welcoming in a way he hadn’t felt in years.

“How did you do it? How did you fix things with my parents?” He asked, quiet and into the air, letting the syllables hang there like half forgotten stars.

“Slowly.” Vlad answered and it was the truth. Fixing broken things, he’d come to find, did not happen overnight. Daniel would need to do more than simply apologize, he would have to prove to those he cared about that he deserved their trust again and that was a long road.

“What are we going to do?”

We.

The word had Vlad’s eyes widening. Daniel had never referred to them as ‘we’, as a sort of unit, a grouping. His gaze flitted to their lines, they were a smidge longer again. It wouldn’t be too long until they connected, only a few inches separated them now.

Daniel intended to finish binding them so they could call it done, a rather sterile and unromantic proposal. Not that he wanted romance from Daniel, it was just that well, he had held up some sort of hope before he’d found out who his line belonged to that he would be given the gift of love by at least one person on the whole god forsaken planet.

Had that really been too much to ask?

“What do you mean?”

Daniel gestured vaguely to the air, “You know the whole, ‘hey mom and dad Vlad and I are immortal’ thing. How the hell are we supposed to do that.”

“Have you decided you want to?”

“Do you?”

Vlad frowned, he didn’t really like to think about it. He should, all things considered, but he tried to avoid that stream of consciousness. The day was drawing nearer to when he’d have to make a decision though. He wasn’t getting any older and Jack and Maddie were starting to show their ages. Their comments on his youthful appearance were growing more and more frequent.

“I just got them back. I don’t want to lose them again,” he confessed, knowing that sentiment entailed his thoughts on revealing himself even if he couldn't verbalize it yet.

“Do you think they’d connect your incident to mine?” Danny knew that Vlad had previously expressed that if his parents knew about his incident that day with Sam and Tucker then they’d connect it to Vlad, but could that deduction work backwards?

“I’m not sure, as far as what Tucker and Samantha have told me you covered up the extent of your incident quite well.” Vlad began, thinking through the possible scenarios, it all really depended on how much Daniel’s parents were willing to dig and Vlad knew for a fact that they could dig quite far when they were up to it, “I wouldn’t put it passed them, but I do not think they would realize it immediately.”

“But you want to tell them, eventually that is.”

“I believe so, yes.” He finally admitted. “Although I worry what it will do to our relationship given their past with Plasmius…”

“You really were an asshole, you know.”

Past tense.

The sentiment shocked Vlad a good bit, leaving him to stare open mouthed and stupid at Daniel, the expression making the younger laugh.

“Well you were.”

He hadn’t even realized why Vlad was shocked, or if he did he didn’t want to address it.

Vlad looked away again before standing from his seat beside the bed awkwardly. “I should check your bandages.”

He reached out for Daniel and for once, Daniel didn’t go tense or flinch. There was a sadness in his eyes he thought he could understand, but he didn’t poke at it. His conversation with Danielle seemed to still be weighing heavily on his mind, not that Vlas could blame him for that. Facing the bridges you had burned was never a pretty, clear cut path.

Carefully his fingers found the edge of the bandage, moving under it to begin unwrapping the gauze in practiced motions.

“I think if you tell them I’ll tell them too… I wouldn’t want them to figure it out, I want to be the one who lets them know. I want to say I’m sorry.” Danny said as the white mesh strips fell away to reveal his stained forehead.

Vlad spoke as he moved to the bathroom to grab and wet a hand towel with warm water. “I’ll wait until you’re ready then.” He said, surprised by Daniel’s decision and how quickly he had seemed to settle on it. He wondered if he had thought about it while in the past, thought about how different life could have been had he been honest with his parents from the get go. Vlad wondered similar things often.

“Thanks Vlad,” Danny said as the elder halfa came back into the bedroom, gently wiping the remaining blood from his forehead, trying not to think about how he’d done something so similar the Christmas before last. The difference here though was that Vlad hadn’t beaten him unconscious. Danny had done that all himself. He’d probably gotten blood on his gravestone.

Vlad washed away the dried remnants of Daniel’s blood from his skin, making sure he got everything and falling into the rhythm of the motions until, deeming Daniel’s head clean he sat the rag aside on the bedside table.

Returning his hand he brushed Daniel’s typically messy, black bangs out of the way of his forehead to double check that the wound had closed over properly. He pressed down where he could see a small and quickly fading scar, finding that the skull was in one piece underneath. He glanced down to see if his actions had hurt Daniel by any chance, just to be sure, and it was then that their eyes met and something about it, about his own reflection in Daniel’s gaze made the world fall quiet.

They looked at one another for a long moment, too long for it to be natural, too long for it to go unnoticed by either of them, Vlad’s hand in Daniel’s hair as the younger turned slightly towards him in the bed.

Their breathing sounded louder than it should. Vlad shifted forward just a bit and he wasn’t sure why, but he was pulled in ever so slightly.

The energy around them was strange and unknown, comfortable yet awkward, nature yet out of place.

Daniel broke the moment first, dragging them from it like surfacing from beneath ice water to gulp in winter air. “You were playing the piano this morning.”

It was an abrupt change of their previous subjects, but considering the atmosphere they had unwittingly stumbled into Vlad couldn’t blame him. He wasn’t sure what had happened there, how they had slipped into a world uncanny yet sublime and quiet that had felt right, terrifyingly so, for just a heartbeat.

“I try to practice before I head off to work. I didn’t pick it up until a few years after I got out of the hospital, after I realized I wasn’t aging. It takes years to master but I figured…”

His hand still hadn’t moved from Daniel’s hair and Daniel had made no move to pull away from him or tell Vlad to stop touching him.

“I have all the time in the world to learn.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imma be honest, I really like stories where the healing is slow and earned and I really wanted to touch on that with Danielle because I felt like Danny leaving would hit her especially hard. Danny is going to have to work to regain her friendship and trust after betraying her the way he did, after leaving her alone T^T
> 
> Also, i love metaphors uwu wonder what learning the piano is a metaphor for here lol (maybe a bit heavy handed but whatever)
> 
> I hope everyone is having a good November and if ur celebrating thanksgiving or some similar holiday then I hope it is good for you! Be safe!
> 
> Kudos and comments much appreciated <3 !!


	11. Lessons in Omelet Making: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gotta a crack a few eggs.

* * *

Four weeks after Danny’s return.

* * *

  
Nearly a month had passed since Danny had come back from the past and he had been surprised by how easily he’d fallen into a routine.

Vlad had told his parents that his friend Dimitri had decided to vacation in the states for a while, staying with him while he took a much needed break from his own business. The fact that his dad had been so enthusiastic about it had been a bit off putting, but otherwise their cover story had been taken at face value.

He hadn’t gone anywhere while staying at Vlad’s, not really anyway. He had wanted to of course, staying at Vlad’s wasn’t exactly ideal, but he’d found that walking around Amity had made him jumpy. He kept expecting to be sighted despite being disguised or for a ghost to pop up and recognize his ectosignature. He couldn’t get caught flying around as Phantom with his parents on the lookout for him. Given what Vlad had told him about the past few years they wouldn’t dare risk letting him get away.

He was starting to come to terms with telling them who and what he was, but the last thing he wanted was to be forced into that upon being captured.

So he’d ended up secluding himself in Vlad’s house, lingering about and passing the days in a lackadaisical blur. His friends had come to visit a few times, talking to him and hanging out, catching up, but they weren’t there all the time and when they were gone Danny wasn’t exactly sure what to do with himself.

The world had swallowed up the hole he had left. He didn’t exactly fit anywhere anymore and it was disconcerting. Sam and Tucker were at school and Danielle was no different. She had spent a few days at the Grey’s to cool off, but then she’d returned to her college.

Jazz and Valerie had gone off on the ridiculously long honeymoon Vlad had paid for and were taking a joint gap semester, so they hadn’t been around. They’d FaceTimed him a few times though, always from a different location around the world.

Mostly he laid on Vlad’s couch, stretching out along the cushions and making himself oddly at home, eating Vlad’s fancy rich boy snacks. Who the hell just made a random charcuterie board for one? Vlad did apparently and Danny was getting used to stealing the fig jams and cheeses.

Vlad didn’t say anything about it and at first Danny had told himself he’d deserved the break. He had spent two years doing farm work and then a huge chunk of his teenage years saving the skins of people who didn’t really care. He had earned a vacation. If he wanted to drape himself over Vlad’s furniture and eat and play video games that was his damn business.

However, after a few weeks the novelty of using Vlad’s mansion as his personal day spa, theater, and twenty four hour dinner had worn off.

Now he wandered through the halls, poking his nose into every room he came across.

Vlad came and went as if everything was normal, going to meetings and doing his paperwork.

They didn’t talk about the quiet moment in the guest bedroom where Vlad’s hand had settled for too long against his face, fingers curling in his hair. They also didn’t talk about the way their soul bond lines had grown a bit from their conversation.

Danny figured that was for the best. He wanted their lines to connect, but he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. He wanted it out of the way so they could stop dancing around it and that was that.

However there was something about Vlad that was starting to get under his skin.

Danny was snooping around. He made no show of hiding it, leaving doors unlocked, drawers disturbed. He could tell by the elder halfa’s expressions when he discovered such things that Vlad wasn’t happy about it, but he never did anything. He didn’t tell him to stop or yell at him, didn’t transform into Plasmius and hit him.

Danny didn’t know why but he was starting to wish he would.

Vlad seemed to have gotten it in his head that he needed to treat Danny with extreme care, no confrontation, no making him uncomfortable.

Stuck in Vlad’s stupid house, pawing through his things, Danny was starting to get tired off it.

The Vlad he knew wouldn’t stand for this disrespect. He would have told Danny to stop, would have sneered at him, grabbed his wrist or his neck hard like he’d used to and shocked him.

He wouldn’t have treated Danny like some porcelain doll.

Danny couldn’t stand that, being treated like he was some damned ticking time bomb. He knew he was one of course, he’d snapped at and hurt Dani, but he didn’t want to be treated like one. At least… not by Vlad.

He could tolerate it from his friends but Vlad?

Vlad wasn’t like that, wasn’t meant to be like that. Danny repeated the sentiments to himself as he poked around in Vlad’s things looking for some incriminating evidence of who knew what, just some kind of proof that Vlad was still the villain Danny knew him to be.

Vlad may have been prancing around playing some rich uncle dude whatever role, but Danny saw right through him.

At least, he wanted to.

The truth was he had no idea what Vlad was planning or if he was even planning anything but the thought of Vlad changing made his stomach twist in ways he didn’t understand and he didn’t want to dissect that part of himself. It was easier to just convince himself that he was missing something and mess around in Vlad’s lab when the halfa wasn’t home.

Or even when he was home.

Danny had picked up the bad habit of snooping around in plain view of the other, trying to goad him into a reaction, trying to be treated like something other than a child who would throw a temper tantrum if they were told they couldn’t do something.

Vlad would always get this annoyed look on his face, an expression Danny had long since memorized, but he wouldn’t step in, wouldn’t say anything and it was so very frustrating.

Why didn’t Vlad say anything? Why couldn’t they argue?

Danny wanted to argue.

Danny wanted to argue and he didn’t know why, but that didn’t matter when all he could think about was swinging a few good punches. Ancients it’d been forever since he’d stretched his powers, since he’d gone toe to toe with someone and fuck if this empty ass mansion wasn’t boring as hell

Currently he was rummaging around in Vlad’s halfa medicine cabinet, reading labels and information packets. There was just about every kind of medicine one could want in Vlad’s supplies. Healing shots, special creams, pills, bandages infused with pain medication, ectoplasm bags for transplants, halfa blood for transplants while specifically in human form, the list went on.

Danny found the halfa defibulators especially interesting. He played around with them idly, wanting to try them out but knowing he’d probably pass out if he used them on himself. He also still wasn’t too keen on the whole getting electrocuted thing. Still, he could tell that a shock the power they could give out would kill a full human. Reading the instructions he found that it was meant to jumpstart a stalled core. He hadn’t even known cores could stall in the first place.

That was a bit terrifying.

“Daniel what are you doing?”

Danny grinned, looking up from the mess he’d made on the floor, needles and pills scattered around him. “Just some research.” He lied, rubbing the two paddles of the defibulators together to simulate the action he’d seen used in t.v before a doctor would press them against someone’s chest.

“If you are interested in medical care for halfas in particular you only need ask.” Vlad said, his words careful and in that tone that Danny had grown to resent.

His teeth grit.

One of the few people who had ever spoken bluntly to him had been Vlad, he’d never sugar coated things. Sam and Tucker would from time to time, trying to be gentle with him when he was stressed or otherwise upset, but Vlad had always been scathingly forward.

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” He said, setting the defibrillator aside and picking up a shot, the same kind he’d given Vlad after the disastrous Christmas truce.

“It is not. If you asked me about halfa biology and medicine I would answer those questions.”

Danny rolled his eyes, “No. I mean, you know it’s bullshit that I’m in here doing research. I lied.”

“I am aware. You are poking through my things as you have always been keen to do.”

Vlad sounded like some freaking robot.

Yes, Daniel. No, Daniel. Anything you want, Daniel.

“Then why don’t you stop me?” Danny growled lowly, fist curling hard around the glass vial of the injection.

“What would be the point of that?” Vlad asked, his arms crossing over his chest, “You would do it later anyway. As soon as I stopped you you’d come back. Might as well just let you.”

Danny squeezed down against the glass, shattering it, the thick grey liquid inside spilling over his palm.

Vlad’s eyebrow twitched, “Daniel those are extremely difficult to make. I would appreciate it if you didn’t do that.”

Danny picked up another one and crushed it.

“Daniel!”

There was that voice raise. Danny reached forward for another shot, holding eye contact with Vlad as he spoke, “Aw come on, let me break them, I’ll just come back later to do it anyways according to you.”

“And just why are you so intent on destroying my things?”

It wasn’t necessarily that he was intent on destroying Vlad’s things, per say. It was that he was tired of this version of Vlad, of being coddled.

He began to squeeze the third shot, threatening to cause more damage, “Maybe I just want to.” He said, grinning before moving to crush the medicine fully, only to feel a sudden intense pressure on his wrist.

He damn near shivered, but he wasn’t about to admit that or investigate the reasoning behind it.

He grinned up at the Vlad clone that had grabbed him, squeezing down hard enough to make his fingers loosen.

“Stop.”

“Make me, Plasmius.”

Vlad let out a deeply frustrated groan, stalking forward and looking down at him and for a moment it almost felt like it had when Danny was fourteen and Vlad would loom over him, leer at him and say something snide and insulting. “Would you stop being a brat?”

“Like I said, make me, Plasmius.”

Vlad pinched his nose hard between his thumb and his forefinger. Daniel had been acting out increasingly over the past two weeks he’d been living at his house. The first week or so had been fine, but by the second he’d begun to grow fidgety, testy. Like a tiger kept in a too bare cage Daniel had begun to prowl about the mansion, becoming easily annoyed.

What Vlad didn’t understand was why Daniel didn’t do anything about it. Surely he realized that he felt coped up. Even if he was dead set on staying at the Amity mansion Vlad had more than enough to do. His house sported a swimming pool, an indoor track, a gym well equipped to withstand halfa abilities. Why didn’t he use any of those things? Why had his outlet become messing with Vlad’s things and being a nuisance?

“Is that what you want Daniel? To fight me?”

“I want you to stop acting like some goody two shoes.”

Vlad sighed, his hand moving to let go of Daniel’s wrist, only to be stopped as his other hand moved to grab Vlad’s own, refusing to let Vlad let him go. He stared down as his wrist, at where Daniel’s fingers dug hard into his skin as if he wanted to shatter his bones the same way he’d shattered the glass vials, “And I want you to stop acting like I’m some villain for you to stop, that part of our lives has long passed.”

This didn’t seem to sit well with Daniel who reared back pulling Vlad with him to send him clambering as he lost his footing.

Danny transformed into Phantom, throwing Vlad to the ground, “You will always be a villain Vladimir, I’m sick of everyone acting like you’ve really changed.”

Vlad scoffed as he shifted defensively, standing up with a sneer, “You’ve seen my change and I don’t have to justify it to you.”

Daniel launched forward, but Vlad was ready for him, grabbing the front of his suit hard and teleporting the both of them to his underground gym below the lab. If they were going to fight he wanted it to be in a controlled environment.

Despite the threat Daniel posed Vlad knew this was different from the Christmas party, he wasn’t upset in that way, wasn’t seething, but he was stressed and in need of an outlet.

He tossed Daniel away from him, placing them fully in his gym’s sparring circle as he stepped to the line. “Daniel you do realize that the reason you want to fight is because you’ve given yourself no outlet for your energy, correct?”

“Plasmius you do realize that you’re as annoying as ever, correct?” Danny said, rolling his eyes before moving forward for an attack. At least Vlad wasn’t shutting the fight down.

Vlad dodged easily enough, it was clear that Daniel hadn’t had much practice in the time away and when not using his raw, overwhelming power he wasn’t difficult to counter. His hand wrapped around Daniel’s arm, twisting it away from his body to send Daniel bowling over.

Frustrated with how smoothly he’d been pushed aside Danny got up, swinging another punch only for Vlad to side step, he groaned, “Could you stop fucking dodging!”

“Could you throw a decent punch?” Vlad smirked, he could see it in Daniel’s eyes that this was about more than feeling cooped up, could see it in how messy his form was and how many opportunities he gave Vlad to hit back.

“Are you going to hit back or not!?” Danny demanded, frustrated voice breaking over the syllables, face redder than it should have been for this early in a fight.

Vlad grabbed Daniel’s raised fist as it came towards him yet again, the punch landing hard enough to compress his joints in a painful jolt. “What is this really about, Daniel?”

Danny flashed his fangs, pushing against Vlad’s hand until the elder halfa’s feet shifted back against the floor. Vlad bore down on him, not striking back, but not letting Danny push him off balance, “Why the fuck aren’t you really fighting back!?”

“Why do you want me too?” Vlad asked as he searched Daniel’s face for what he was beginning to suspect was there.

“That’s what you do! If I had pawed through your lab before all this you would have thrown me halfway across Amity!” Danny snapped, cold leaching from him in his frustration to burn across Vlad’s hand where the elder still held him tightly, “Ever since the incident with Dani everyone has been treating me like I could snap or bolt at any moment!

“Because you could, Daniel.” Vlad said flatly, and despite hating the answer Danny found himself relieved by the straightforward response.

Anyone else would have tried to dance around the statement, would have offered explanations he didn’t want or need because he knew damn well that he had lashed out without meaning to. He didn’t need to be reminded.

He tore his hand away from Vlad’s watching as the elder turned the ice across his palm to steam with the power of his core, “And I expect that treatment from my friends but not from you! You’re the villain! You aren’t supposed to treat me like… like…” he gestured at all of Vlad who despite being in his ghost form had shown him little of the hostility he was accustomed to. “This!”

“I am not a villain anymore Daniel and you are not a hero!”

Danny stumbled back further from Vlad, eyes wide and searching, “I’m-” of course he wasn’t, not anymore, not now, he’d given that part of his life. He hadn’t wanted it anymore. Being a hero had brought him so much pain that he had pushed down inside of himself. Being a hero was sleepless nights and thankless people but — Danny looked down at the floor, hands flexing awkwardly at his sides, “Look could we just fight?”

He asked it quietly, wanting things to just be simple for just a little while. This new world he’d come back too was all wrong. Sam and Tucker were off doing their own thing, Jazz and Valerie were traveling the world, Danielle didn’t want to talk to him, he couldn’t go home, and to top it all off Vlad wasn’t Vlad anymore… not the one he remembered.

There weren’t any ghosts to fight or classes to get to. All there was was a big mansion and a town he didn’t feel safe wandering through.

Who…

Who the fuck was he anymore?

“We can fight.”

Danny looked up from the ground, “Wait really?”

Vlad nodded.

* * *

An hour or so later the pair lay on the floor of Vlad’s gym, staring up at the ceiling, arms spread eagle, chests heaving.

Vlad had to admit it had been a while since he’d had a good sparring match, it had been more relaxing than anticipated and once Daniel had worked through some of his stress the banter had been familiar and nearly nostalgic in nature.

He frowned, watching one of the large fans on the ceiling turn round and round. It might be nice to have a regular sparring partner but he was sure that once Daniel had what he wanted from him he’d leave and he’d be alone again. It was probably best not to enjoy it too much.

“That was— that was kind of nice, fruitloop.” Daniel said breathlessly, making Vlad stiffen beside him. Daniel had never called anything he’d done nice before. “I feel a bit better.”

Danny sat up, stretching his sore arms and legs, feeling the familiar burn of post fight fatigue. It had been years since he’d felt it. He closed his eyes, taking in a slow, deep breath.

Back when he’d been a teenager he would sometimes fight just for the hell of it, just for the feel. Once he could hold his own fighting had become a way to blow off steam, sure he hated getting his ass handed to him, but there had been times there when throwing a few good punches had cleared his mind like nothing else.

Even while in the past Danny had picked up the habit of chopping wood when he’d felt cagey and too full of energy. The manual labor had grounded him, soothed him with its repetition and with the way his hands would ache to the bone from holding the handle tightly.

It felt like a haze had been cleared from his mind, the fog he’d settled into while at Vlad’s house evaporating away as he drew air into his tired lungs. They hadn’t used their powers, but going toe to toe with one another and not bother to pull their punches had been exciting.

“You need to do something with yourself other than eat me out of house and home and take midday naps, you’re not accustomed to sitting still.” Vlad said, stretching himself out as well, partly because he knew it was good to after a workout and partly just to feel it.

Danny fiddled with his hands, looking around the room to take in all the various forms of equipment Vlad had and also to stall because he couldn’t quite believe what he was about to say, “We could spar more often, maybe.”

There was that word again.

We.

It brought Vlad back to the guest room, back to the moment they had both noticed yet ignored where it had felt so natural to be gentle in each other’s presences.

It wasn’t supposed to be we. Vlad had long since accepted that he wasn’t part of a we with anyone, never really, never fully.

He gave an awkward cough, “What about after,” he rolled his wrist as if that said enough about what he was thinking.

“After what?”

“After our lines connect. You’ll leave, what then? You can’t go around picking fights just because you’re bored. Not to mention you’re legally dead and a certain Dimitri doesn’t officially exist.”

Oh yeah.

Danny frowned, he was supposed to just go after their lines connected. He’d insinuated as much when he’d proposed the idea and he was sure Vlad wouldn’t want him hanging around the mansion longer than needed. They were interacting with the purpose of connecting their lines and deciding when they should tell his parents about their half ghost statuses. Beyond that they were still just Danny and Vlad for the most part.

“I suppose that will be when I talk to my parents.” Then what? Would he move in with them? Would he get Vlad to forge some documents for him and pretend to be Dimitri for the rest of his life? Would he go to school, get a normal job?

Danny wasn’t sure. He hadn’t thought he’d get this far honestly, he hadn’t thought it through as much as he probably should have. His planning had stopped at proposing that he and Vlad get their lines out of the way so they could stop dreading it.

They lapsed into an oddly comfortable if heavy silence for a few minutes, a Vlad clone appearing to offer them both bottles of ice water which Danny took gratefully.

“How did you do it?” Danny asked eventually as Vlad lifted his bottle of water to the back of his neck to cool him off. Danny had the fleeting, yet rather concerning thought that he could summon cold to his palms, could press his hand against the back of Vlad’s neck and help him cool off.

“Do what?” Vlad asked, eyes closed at the sensation of cold against him and Danny was relieved for that because he realized he was staring at the elder halfa.

“Put yourself back into people’s lives… I don’t, I mean there doesn’t really seem to be a place for me anymore,” he admitted, standing up to leave the gym, Vlad following behind him as he made his way up the stairs back to the main level of the house.

“There wasn’t a space for me either,” Vlad said, surprised by how candid Daniel had been in his question and as he walked behind him Vlad realized something, followed it in the breadth of his shoulders, in the set of his jaw.

Daniel had grown up.

Beneath the pain and the running, beyond the pushing others away, Daniel had grown into a man. He was unsure of himself, but he was there. He didn’t want Vlad to act differently because that would cement the changes of the years in his mind, but the truth was Daniel had changed too.

He never would have asked Vlad such upfront questions before, never would have been so honest with him. He was maturing, slowly but surely and there was a long way to go but Vlad found himself wanting to know what he’d be like when he got there.

He promptly pushed the thought down.

Daniel was going to leave again, he knew that. He’d finish their lines, admit what he’d done to his parents, then want nothing to do with Vlad.

Simple as that.

“I had to find a new space,” Vlad continued after his momentary pause, “I couldn’t force myself where I didn’t belong… I tried that with Maddie for years and it got me nowhere.”

“I don’t know what my new space looks like.” Danny said quietly as they reached the kitchen and he wondered momentarily why Vlad was following him, why he was bothering to hold such a heavy conversation. It wasn’t as if Vlad really owed him that.

Still, he found himself feeling thankful for the elder halfa and for once he decided not to push that feeling away.

* * *

Three months since Danny’s return

* * *

After the initial awkwardness Danny and Vlad managed to settle into a routine, slowly growing used to one another’s presences and as much as Danny hated to admit it Vlad had been right about him needing to find an outlet for his energy.

They had begun sparing fairly regularly, falling into a softer version of the ebb and flow their fights used to have.

Danny had taken to exercising daily, utilizing Vlad’s many facilities, but beyond that he was still lost on what to do. He was hoping that now that Sam and Tuck had returned for summer break he’d be able to brainstorm with them.

Speaking of, Tucker was supposed to be coming over today to help Vlad out in his lab. Danny was still a bit unsure about all that, about one of his best friends working with his nemesis… well, ex nemesis Danny supposed. They didn’t have an official truce agreement beyond the letter Vlad had given him all those years ago informing him of their potential to be soulmates, but they weren’t exactly fighting anymore.

Still, picturing Tuck and Vlad getting along was… weird.

He turned over in his bed, flipping his phone face up on the bedside table to see that Tucker had sent him a message about thirty minutes ago that he had arrived. “Fuck…” Danny mumbled to himself as he stretched, he’d slept in. He buried his face in his pillow, flipping onto his stomach and burrowing into the warmth of the sheets.

Somewhere between the days the bed had stopped feeling unfamiliar, the mansion had stopped feeling so big. Somewhere through the weeks Vlad’s house had started to feel safe and comfortable and if he were to go back in time and tell himself that he would have called himself crazy.

He phased right through the bed and down through the house, still yawning as he landed messy haired and half dressed on the laboratory floor.

When he’d snoop around in the lab it was always dark, but now that Vlad and Tuck were working it was lit up like Christmas morning so the pair could see what they were doing. Danny squinted, adjusting to the fluorescence lights and scratching the back of his head, “Mm sorry I’m late,” he mumbled as Tucker laughed at his disheveled appearance.

“Looks like you’ve made yourself comfortable, dude.” Tucker smiled and Danny was glad to hear his voice in person and not over the phone.

“He’s been a pest,” Vlad hummed from where he was working in the corner of the room, soldering something to a complicated looking panel.

“Yeah you said, but that’s normal for him.”

“Wait—“ Danny looked at Tucker then to Vlad and back again, “You two talk about me?”

“We’re lab partners,” Vlad said without looking up from his work as if that explained everything.

Tucker shot him a look that spoke of an amused familiarity Danny hadn’t been aware they held for one another, “I heard you got into the halfa medicine, broke a few vials. That stuff is hard to make you know.”

“Yeah yeah, dad,” Danny grumbled, meeting Tucker’s hand in a firm shake that pulled inward to a tight hug. “Missed you.”

“Missed you too, dude,” Tucker said, smile wider than Danny had seen it in a long time, “Want to see what we’re working on?”

Danny nodded enthusiastically, Tucker had been texting him for a while now about being particularly excited about their current project. “Hell yeah.”

Tucker walked over to one of the large wall mounted computer screens, Danny following close behind to look up at the charts he pulled up, “Okay so you know how the GZ runs on a different set of physical laws ,” Danny nodded, he’d known that since the first time he’d entered it. “Up can become down, gravity can fluctuate, time can work differently in some spots, especially when near Clockwork. We’re working on a device that can predict those fluctuations.”

“It’ll track those predictions as well,” Vlad cut in, pulling his goggles up and over his head to settle against his hair as he put the soldering iron aside, “It’ll repeat successes and adjust mistakes, making the predictions more accurate overtime.”

“And it will compile all the information it gathers into a database!” Tucker said, pulling up a slew of spreadsheets and graphs on the computer screens.

Danny braced himself for what he knew was coming. If there was anything Tucker loved more than a nice barbecue it was a well constructed database.

“A few of these bad boys will go to us so anyone who wants to head out into the Zone can get alerted if an area they are in is about to change, whether that be Valerie, or Dani, or Vlad, whoever, but we’re also going to be setting up several of them in different locations so we can track the GZ in real time.” Tucker launched into his spiel, talking about all the data they would collect and how he’d constructed the coding and the servers. Apparently they’d gained permission from some ghosts to set up the devices directly in their territories, Danny surprised that Vlad had been able to convince them.

A few minutes into the detailed explanation Vlad stood up and pointed to his newly buzzing phone, Tucker nodding surely in his direction as Vlad left the lab to take the call.

Danny watched him go and it wasn’t until a few moments later that he realized that Tucker had stopped taking. He looked back at him watching as Tucker grinned at him, “What?”

“Nothing.” Tucker hummed, looking back at the screen with a look in his eyes that said he knew more than he was letting on.

“Tucker what the hell are you thinking?”

Tucker smirked, “Oh nothing, except you’re down here in the lab in nothing but sweatpants looking more relaxed than I think I’ve ever seen you. When Vlad said you were making yourself at home I hadn’t expected him to be so right.” Tucker paused for a second before adding, “Vlad’s been more relaxed too.”

“We’ve been sparing.” Danny said, unsure of where Tucker was going with his train of thought, “Helps with stress.”

“Mhm.”

“Why are you two even talking?” Danny cut in, annoyance starting to bud in his chest and stomach, what the hell was Tucker trying to say?

“We’ve been lab partners for almost two years now Danny at some point we kind of became… well you know, friends.”

“You? Friends with Vlad. Nope, no.” Danny balked, shaking his head as Tucker laughed. “You know who the fuck he is. Hello? Vlad. Plasmius.”

“Dude he’s not done anything evil in years, and yeah, I’ll admit it’s kind of bizarre, but working in the lab is nice and I’ve already got a nice job lined up once I graduate thanks to him.” Tucker said, scooting his rolling chair across the lab floor to look over what Vlad had been working on, “You know the dude’s not as complicated as you think. He’s dumb as a box of rocks though.”

“Tuck I’m going to need you to spit out whatever the fuck you’ve been grinning about because you just called Vlad dude and I’m all for you calling him stupid but you’ve lost me.”

Tucker shot him a look from across the room before rolling his eyes, “Dude, you’re both super relaxed, you’re prancing around the mansion like you own the place, and on top of it all your lines are longer. Vlad doesn’t think I can tell, but I know you two are probably...” he put his hands together, lacing his fingers through one another.

Danny’s face paled instantly, his mouth falling open. “Wait, wait, wait! You! You! You think I’m fucking Vlad!?”

Tucker’s eyes widened as he realized he’d read the two men wrong, “I mean maybe not necessarily but… fam you showed up here, late, half asleep, and mostly naked, you got to admit it looks suspicious.”

“No! No! Ew Tuck gross, what the fuck!? I would never, ever fuck Vlad! What is wrong with you!”

“Ahem…” A distinct cough came from behind Danny, making him flinch, his blood rushing back to his face to burn in his cheeks, flushing a deep red as he came face to face with Vlad who had returned from his call with an unreadable emotion in his eyes. “I see you two are being productive.”

“Yeah it was great, I learned a lot, but I uh… I gotta go!” Danny said quickly, rushing to move around the elder halfa, running up the stairs before remembering that he could in fact change into a ghost and he flew from the house, needing to be as far away from Vlad and his stupid god damned mansion as possible.

He was so, so not fucking Vlad. What the hell was Tucker even thinking?

As if.

* * *

  
Danny found himself on the outskirts of town a few hours later, still feeling the push of panic at the back of his throat.

Why would Tucker say that? Why would he even be okay with that?

Vlad was… Vlad was the worst. Sure he’d been pretty good the past few years and he was letting Danny crash at his house, and he’d kept looking for him, and he was helping Danny get his energy out through sparring, and he’d made up with his parents, but he was still Vlad and Vlad was the absolute last person Danny would ever think to do that sort of thing with!

Soulmates or not that was… that was out of the question!

Danny was at Vlad’s place to connect their lines and to try and figure out his life. That was it.

He buried his face between his knees, taking a slow deep breath in, arms squeezing around his legs.

What the hell was Tucker thinking? Since when did he see Vlad as anything other than well, Vlad, a bad guy?

Even just thinking those words made Danny frown, his mind quick to supply all the non villainous things Vlad had done even when he obviously had nothing to gain from them.

Like looking for him… like inviting him to Jazz’s wedding. He really didn’t have to do that, especially not after how Danny had snapped at him during the truce party.

He stared at the grass, watching a ladybug make its way across the blades, crawling up a dandelion and settling in the yellow petals.

Vlad was nice now… he and Tucker got along, Danielle trusted him, he’d become friends with Danny’s parents again.

What had Danny come back to?

The world really had swallowed up the hole he’d left behind hadn’t it?

Where did he fit in? What new spot was there for him to take?

Maybe Danielle was right, maybe he shouldn’t have come back. He’d wanted to create a world that didn’t need him and he’d succeeded. He should just go back in time, back to the farm and his small, cozy cabin in the woods. He should be happy that his plan had worked.

Danny sighed, the worst part about all this was that although his mind wanted nothing to do with Vlad his body ached to go spar. He was tense, stressed, and accustomed to fighting with Vlad when he felt that way. Despite everything, despite the embarrassment and confusion he wanted to get back on the mat and kick Vlad’s legs out from under him, pin him down, and tell him he’d won while looking at the man’s stupid frustrated fac—

Something clicked behind him, the distinct sound of metal sliding into place, a cold barrel pressing against the base of his skull.

“Don’t move, Phantom.”

Danny froze as his mother’s voice slid around him, filling him with dread that settled heavy and cold in his stomach.

He hadn’t shifted back to a human form after having flown from Vlad’s house. In his embarrassment he had forgotten about his parents, about how they were still searching for Phantom years after his disappearance.

Idiot.

Idiot, idiot, idiot! Of course they’d picked up on his presence in the town, it was only a wonder that they hadn’t gotten to him sooner.

He lifted his hands in surrender, trying to calm his voice as much as possible as he spoke slowly, “Maddie, long time no see.”

The barrel pressed harder against his skull, she didn’t say anything in response but he could hear her thumb slide over the side, clicking the gun into a more lethal mode, the mechanism inside whirling.

“Look I’ve had a bit of a rough day a—”

“Can it.” She snapped and the malice in her voice made his insides clench up as if he wanted to shrivel to dust. His mother had only talked to him as Dimitri since he’d got back, this was the closest she had come to speaking to Danny again and she sounded like this. He knew she didn’t know any better but it still stung. “You’ve got some nerve showing up here after what you did.”

“A-And just what was that?” He asked, already knowing the answer Vlad had told him.

“Killed my son.”

He swallowed thickly. He was so not getting away from this one easily. His mother was the definition of a mother bear and now she was staring down at the ghost she blamed for her baby’s death.

Might as well start the shit show he thought to himself, turning intangible and plummeting through the earth. It was a tried and true escape tactic and perhaps one he had used too many times because as he sunk into the ground pain seared through him.

Coiling around his body, pressing in and electrocuting him, his world burned. He tried to gasp but it didn’t quite work considering his lungs were intangible and for that small grace he was thankful because breathing in rocks and dirt didn’t sound like it would feel pleasant.

He was yanked upwards, torn from hiding to find himself wrapped up in a net. Vlad had said his parents had been improving their tech and Danny got the sinking suspicion that their intangible net would be only the first of many examples he would come to be acquainted with.

His dad stepped out from behind a bush, holding what looked like a fishing rod, reeling the net in to drag him uncomfortably across the ground, but that was the least of his concerns. He pressed a button on the side of the rod and Danny’s back bowed as a scream tore from his throat.

It hurt.

It hurt far more than their weapons ever had, that their weapons had ever needed to and Danny could feel their hatred for him in the way the electricity wrapped around him like a coffin snapping closed.

His jaw ached from how wide he’d stretched it, eyes wide and unseeing. He’d been hoping to put some distance between his parents and himself, but it was clear that wasn’t going to be happening.

He tried to phase out of the net, buffering against it as he became tangible and intangible in a rapid succession marked by the brutal increase of the electricity’s power around him, his father turning a dial on the reel until Danny’s ears felt like they were bleeding.

His body was scrunched in on itself, folded into a stiff fetal position. His teeth clacked together hard, he felt them shatter in his mouth and it was just as unpleasant as it was in his dreams, the shards grinding against his tongue and throat until he was choking. Cold dripped down his face and oh, yeah, it turned out his ears were bleeding after all, ectoplasm smearing against his cheeks, his tears.

Danny managed, of only barely, to open his blurry eyes. The figures of his parents standing over him. Sunlight glinted off his mother’s goggles and for a moment she looked like the aliens he’d seen in all the third rate cheap sci-fi films he’d binged with Sam and Tuck while in high school.

Life had been simpler then.

God, Danny thought as his mom lifted her gun up above her head, swinging it down in a clear, practiced arc to crash hard into the side of his skull, if they learned what he was now it would destroy them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys uwu
> 
> I decided to split this part of the story up into two parts I believe it will be because otherwise this would have been like an idk 16k chapter and I was like that a bit long
> 
> So congrats a cliffhanger!
> 
> Also I said we were done with the angst, but uhhhhhhhh  
> I mean there’s still some angst cuz I love it
> 
> Also sorry if there are errors in this chap I wrote most of it and edited all of it while in the midst of a sinus infection and i am in fact on cold medicine so 😔🤙 it be like that
> 
> Anyway hope y’all like!  
> Kudos and comments as always are appreciated even if I’m slow to answer the comments cuz I’m awkward as heck lol


	12. Lessons in Omelet Making: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The egg breaking continues, this time with bones included!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !READ THIS!
> 
> Trigger warning: chapter contains graphic material, including but not limited to 
> 
> > dissection/ vivisection  
> > medical equipment such as scalpels, syringes, thoracic retractors  
> > blood and ectoplasm used as blood  
> > discussions on and imagery of animal death/ dissection  
> > puking
> 
> There’s probably more, but like yeah, all around not fun time you have been warned.

* * *

An unknown amount of time later. 

* * *

Danny had imagined this a lot, pictured it, dreamed of it, particularly in his teenage years living under the Fenton family roof, but it was nothing like that. Well, it was, but it wasn’t. It was so much more painful, so much slower, so much more terrifying.

Now he would have taken his fantasies gladly, would have prayed for nightmares, begged for visions.

He wasn’t sure when he’d woken up. He also wasn’t sure when he’d passed out again… and again, and again.

The first time he’d woken, at least, the first time he could remember coming to, he’d heard the drill. It had been a sharp, high pitched whine that made his ears ache. A light had glared above him, making the shapes looming over him blurry. He’d tried to move, to speak, but his mouth had been wired open.

He was glad he’d never gotten braces, or had many problems with cavities. The idea of someone having their hands in his mouth was something he’d never found pleasant and he considered that a reasonable thought. People who wanted to be dentists had to be special kinds of sadists.

Danny could remember sitting in a blue, rubber and plastic cushioned chair in a dentist’s office when he was little. He had a small rocket ship in his hands, flying it around and around. A noise had started up from behind the reception desk, a whirling, a man. Danny’s mom had taken a hold of his hand to soothe him as the screaming had cascaded through the building in time to the drill.

Danny screamed.

The second time he’d come around his mouth had been set free, but his tongue had been swollen. He choked on ectoplasm, gummed at the hollow holes his parents had left in him.

Teeth were a bitch to grow back.

There wasn’t enough milk in the world for all the calcium he’d need after this was over.

And Danny knew it would be over eventually, oh he knew. This ended one of three ways. Either he failed to maintain his form and his parents realized what he was and what they had done, or they let him go, or and Danny hoped the third option didn’t come to fruition, they would trap him here forever and he’d have to wait until they grew old and died.

Years of torture waiting for his parents to pass didn’t sound fun and neither did the cart being rolled towards him.

“Speak.” Maddie commanded, lifting a small hammer in her hand. It’s metal glinted off the overhead lights.

“M-Maddie…” he managed, dizzy from pain when he wished he was dizzy from Vlad’s medicine. Ancients, he’d kill for that grey liquid in Vlad’s lab right about now.

“Good. Now you’re going to tell me everything.”

As if.

He couldn’t. It was out of the question. He couldn’t hut his mom or his dad like that. He’d hurt them enough, more than enough. They had buried their youngest child… for that he could withstand their interrogations. It was punishment enough.

How was he ever supposed to tell them now? He had planned on it, had intended too, but too much damage had already been done. Stopping them half way through the process of vivisecting him would not lessen their guilt. He wouldn’t get to be his parent’s son ever again. He’d just started to get used to the idea and now it was being snatched out from under his feet.

Maybe he just asked for too much… maybe he just always, always asked for too much.

“What did you do to my son?”

A lot of things really, things she wouldn’t even believe, things she would deny. Danny had done so many things. He had died, saved lives, saved the world, travelled through time, met his evil self, killed people he loved, wanted to die… faked his own death because that was the closest he could get. Danny had lived, would live, an eventful half death.

He didn’t say anything.

Maddie’s hammer swung down and struck the pinky on his left hand shattering the bone and he flinched hard. It wasn’t the worst pain, in fact it was deeply familiar, but he knew it was just a taste.

The third time he’d woken up his father had been there beside his mom. He wondered how much time had passed. His gums itched and ached, face throbbing.

He hadn’t given his mom any information. He had none to give really. He had tried lying, tried saying he didn’t know what had happened to Danny, but she could tell. It was funny, hysterical really, that she saw through him like this when she’d never seen through him, seen who he was, while he was in high school. Maybe if she had they wouldn’t be here now.

Danny wanted to be mad at himself, wanted to scold himself and ask why he hadn’t told them sooner, but he knew why he hadn’t and he couldn’t muster up the energy for any more self loathing than he already harbored.

His suit was open, chest heaving. Monitors beeped around him and he could hear his parents talking about how interesting he was, about how he breathed, about how his core pulsed in the simulation of a heart beat. Maybe it was all an act, Maddie said, maybe it was a complex performance to appear more human. If it was, it certainly wasn’t going to gain any sympathy from her.

Something cold pressed along his chest and when he managed to look down he saw the familiar ruddy yellow of antiseptic.

“This will keep the incision sight clean,” his mother informed, the word incision spiraling through him even as he wondered why they would bother with keeping him properly cleaned and prepped.

“We’ve never caught a ghost with an elemental core, we’re wondering what yours looks like.” Jack added, handing a scalpel to Maddie.

Once when Danny was in high school he’d had to dissect a cow’s eyeball in biology class. It had been bigger than he had expected, although he’d supposed at the time that that was because he wasn’t up close and personal with cows very often. He always saw them from a distance.

The eye had been brown and cloudy, harder than a softball, but not quite as hard as a baseball. The nerves were still attached to the end, the muscle nesting the eye inside it, but the skin and eyelids had been pulled away.

His back arched.

The blade had pressed to the top of his sternum, his mom pulling down to his diaphragm, fingers curling against the skin to begin flaying him open.

Scalpels were surprisingly delicate. Danny had broken one, pushing down into the flesh of the cow's eyeball until the joint between blade and handle had snapped clean apart.

Even in death the body was tougher than it looked, demanding pressure and precision he hadn’t held at the time, but his parents knew what they were doing.

A saw was sat flush with his sternum, in and out the teeth chewed along him. He was going to puke, scratch that, he was and he was drowning. He wanted so badly to pass out, to be given the grace of that false death, but the pain had surpassed even that level, searing into his mind.

When he’d finally cut into the tough outer casing of the cow’s eyeball water had welled up. He’d been surprised. It had been so crystal clear even months after the animal’s death, glistening like spring. It hadn’t been water, not really, he’d known, but it had been beautiful in its own way. It was a soft jelly and it smelled like sea salt and the chemicals used to preserve it.

Ectoplasm poured from him, Danny could hear it hit the floor and he didn’t know how he could pick that of all things up with his fading senses but there it was and the way the drips echoed on the concrete floor sounded all too loud in his ears.

Jack stepped forward, an odd device in his hands that looked like a large metal caliper. It had one long blade with notches running up the side and two smaller blades sticking out in the opposite direction, the ends curved to provide grip and traction. He’d seen it once when he was young, had asked what it was. His father had confidently told him it was a thoracic retractor and it had one very important job, to pull things apart.

The curved ends were placed against his ribs. Jack took the crank at the base on one of the smaller blades in hand and with a great amount of force that he was more than qualified to provide he turned it.

The blade moved to the right, pushed and pressed until it hit the next notch along the line of the longways blade and crashed into place.

Danny wailed, head thrown back and spinning, “Stop!” He managed, but they didn’t.

With a large amount of effort Danny had pulled the eye apart, hand placed his fingers at either end of the incision and yanked. Sam had said he was being crude, was being unnecessarily and rudely rough with the specimen. She hadn’t wanted to come to class that day. It had disgusted her. Danny could understand that, but he couldn’t understand why she hadn’t seen that simply ripping the eye open was the fastest way to see what was inside and finish their homework questions. The scalpel could only move so fast.

He was screaming, crying, shaking, he was numb from the diaphragm down and tingling in in his arms, burning.

With incredible efficiency his father turned the crank, around and around clockwise in a tight circle and his ribs opened, pulled apart to reveal his insides. There was cracking now, a sound of shattering bones he knew well and god how his head pounded. There were black spots in his vision and Danny mused they’d always been there, stains around the edges.

Inside of an eye there’s something very special, something that seems and feels impossible. Danny had found it, there in his high school biology class, nestled in the jelly tears of that long dead cow. He’d found something that, even to this day he couldn’t help but think, was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever come across.

There, hidden against an iridescent sclera, had been the cow’s lens. It was not quite round and deeply perfect. The lens was a gem, a gift of hidden things and unknowable mechanisms, a pearl in an ocean he’d never known had been there.

There was beauty in the places people couldn’t see. In those can’t spot spaces.

Some things weren’t meant to be looked at and yet… there had been joy in that exploration, that discovery

Danny was going to die.

He hadn’t thought it was possible, but he was going to die because now, now there was a hand in his chest and it was curling its fingers around something beautiful and terrifying and cold.

Screaming wasn’t the world for it, neither was howling, or begging, or any synonym his mind could conjure in his haze. It was just pain. It was pain and agony beyond what he thought was possible. His teeth were nothing, his broken fingers were elbow scrapes and paper cuts, his sternum, his ribs, forgettable.

It was his core.

He’d never touched it but Danny knew in the way you know someone is watching you, in the way you can feel eyes on the back of your head, deep and instinctual.

Sparks scattered across his vision, across the backs of his eyelids like stars dancing in the night, fireflies flashing in the trees, creating galaxies all their own.

He asked anyone who would listen to help, to stop this torture, begged for them to come and whisk him away to a world painted against the growing darkness of his mind. He longed to settle down in a different place, in an earth that revolved around the stars in his eyes, in a new home where he could forget this ever happened.

A long, loud whine of a beep filled his ears.

* * *

Six hours earlier.

* * *

“Danny!” Tucker called after Danny as he ran from the room, cringing as he saw the expression on Vlad’s face, a mixture of anger and pain. “Vlad I’m sorry, you shouldn’t have heard that.” He said as the older man stepped around him to sit heavily in the chair beside his soldering work.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t stick your nose into my business.”

“I’m sorry, I had just assumed…no, forget it, you’re right. It wasn’t the time to talk about it.” Tucker conceded, knowing that look on Vlad’s face as he shut his usual walls around himself. He wasn’t going to talk about it with him. He always got that way when he moped and after almost two and a half years of working with him Tucker had seen Vlad mope quite a bit.

It was almost two hours later when Vlad spoke again, quiet and unsure of himself and damn if it didn’t come across as such an unnatural tone for him, “Am I… really that undesirable?”

Tucker looked up from his computer screen, over to where Vlad was fiddling with his hands, worrying at a spot where he might have worn an accessory ring but wasn’t because rings were against proper lab procedure. They could get caught in mechanisms, increasing the risk of losing a finger. “So you admit that you’d, ya know, want that to happen. You and Danny.”

Vlad shook his head slowly, “I don’t… well, I’m not sure I just… I had always hoped that my soulmate would like me at least.”

“I mean isn’t that everyone’s hope?”

Vlad let out a small, sad, and oh so tired chuckle, “I suppose.”

Tucker stood and walked over to him, leaning over to check on his progress. Vlad was coming along nicely with his work despite his understandably bad mood, “Hey it’s about lunch, why don’t we take a break?”

“You just want to try out that new grill I bought,” Vlad said, Tucker grinning as the older man stood and began to set his lab gear aside.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”

* * *

  
They didn’t get much more lab work done for the rest of the day, which was alright, they were ahead of schedule anyway. Instead they cooked up a meal far too big for two and ended up inviting Samantha over for the afternoon.

Samantha had asked where Daniel was, but Tucker had just said he’d gone to take a walk around Amity, which was probably the truth, but Vlad was glad he didn’t have to get into why exactly Daniel had gone out. That was a whole can of worms he was not interested in dissecting.

It wasn’t that Daniel himself had balked at the idea of being with him. It was that no one had ever genuinely wanted that. Right? The only people he’d ever loved had paired off and left him and now, the one person who he could be with forever, who could live as long as he would, didn’t want him. Vlad supposed it was just a fact of his life that he was never quite good enough, never in the right place at the right time, always separated by a few maddening degrees from what he wanted.

Despite Tucker and Samantha’s company for the day Vlad found it difficult to drag his mood back up. Maybe he was just sliding into a depressive episode. It happened, he was used to it. It’d been a few months since his last bad one though so that was a bit disheartening.

After a few more hours Vlad was starting to get antsy, looking down at his watch, glancing around the living room as if expecting Daniel to appear. He hadn’t been gone for this length of time since he’d shown up to Jasmine’s wedding. Slowly, worry began to wheedle its way through him.

Had Daniel left again?

The thought startled him more than he would have liked to admit. Really it had only been about five hours since the morning lab incident. That was no time at all.

Standing he swept his gaze over Samantha and Tucker. Tucker was fiddling with his PDA and redlining a few files in his lap for them to go over later and Samantha was reading a book she’d pulled from his library while curling against Tucker’s shoulder. Had this been a few years ago he would have waited until he was completely alone to show the weakness he perceived worry to be, but it wasn’t a few years ago.

“I think I’m going to go see if I can find Daniel.” He announced, switching into his Plasmius form and taking a fair amount of comfort in the fact that they no longer flinched when he did so.

Samantha looked up from her book, “Something wrong?”

“He’s just never been gone this long since he got back, I just want to make sure he didn’t…” Vlad raised his hand to simulate ‘taking off’ and Samantha nodded. “Could you two stay here in case he comes back.”

“Yeah of course, we’ll give you a call if he does,” Tucker said, a knowing look in his eyes.

With that Vlad teleported to his roof, looking out over the town, trying to sense Daniel from afar. He wished Danielle hadn’t decided to take a summer semester at college. He was all for her attempting to finish her undergraduate degree early, but if she’d been in Amity for summer break she could have helped him look. She was far better at sensing ectosignatures from a distance than he was.

He frowned, picking a direction and flying off. He stayed intangible as he searched scouring the rooftops and working his way about the city in a careful, meticulous grid. Surely Daniel wouldn’t have left left Amity, right?

* * *

Vlad sighed in frustration, nearly an hour had passed he hadn’t managed to pick up on any signs of Daniel. He ended up touching down near the younger’s grave, intending to see if he’d come there. He could understand the draw, it certainly wasn’t his first time visiting the area.

However, as he stood in front of Daniel’s grave, realizing that the younger halfa wasn’t here either, he began to notice something. He hadn’t picked up on it during his initial search, but as he thought over all the places he’d flown over he couldn’t remember seeing the Feton’s van patrolling the streets.

That was odd… they tended to patrol around mid afternoon and evening, right when many ghosts would start to become active, but they hadn’t been out. With as much ground as Vlad had covered he should have seen their van at least once, if not several times and on top of that, they hadn’t caught sight of him either. Sure, he’d been intangible, but their sensors should have gone off. They should have been attempting to trail him. He was a powerful ghost and he’d been loose during their patrol time for over forty five minutes.

A deep, sinking feeling overcame him, dread pouring down the back of his throat to burn against the inside of his chest in the wellings of panic.

Daniel had left the mansion in ghost form.

Why hadn’t he stopped Daniel?

Why hadn’t he stopped Daniel!?

Vlad knew the Fenton’s were looking for Phantom, knew they had improved on their technology, knew that they couldn’t have possibly ignored a ghost reading as large as the one Daniel would have given off.

He’d already wasted an hour.

He’d wasted more than that he knew he had because Jack and Maddie would have been quick to find Phantom.

Vlad didn’t remember leaving Daniel’s grave, didn’t remember teleporting across the city or phasing through the Fenton’s ghost shield. He didn’t remember bursting into the lab or the looks on Jack and Maddie’s faces.

But he didn’t think he’d ever be able to forget how Daniel looked.

He was strewn across an examination table, attached to wires and tubes, whirling, whining machines. Ectoplasm covered the floor, casting an eerie neon glow about the workspace as it dripped down his body from the source, an opened chest cavity. His skin was flayed, ribs spilt with a thoracic retractor, flared up and out like wings. Maddie’s hand was around his core.

Vlad was going to be sick.

He wasn’t easily repulsed. He had seen some things over the course of his life and he had a strong stomach, but Maddie’s hand touching Daniel’s core…

Vlad’s own hand flew to his mouth to press back the gag that wracked through him and in that time Maddie had released Daniel’s core and grabbed an ectoray gun. Jack did the same and Vlad’s hesitation cost him as they shot without hesitation.

He wasn’t sure whose shot caught him first, the blast hitting him square across the face, burning and searing like the proto portal had when he’d had his incident. He screamed in pain, clawing at his face, at the melting skin and the pink ectoplasm that now stained his fingers. Fear gripped him, it looked, felt, smelled, just like it had all those years ago. It was as if he was dying, rotting from within all over and for a moment he almost succumbed to that terror, to those visions, but then he saw Daniel there against the examination table. He was helpless, alone, passed out with his core exposed and he wrenched Vlad from his fear because in that moment he was more important.

Vlad could remember the hospital later, he had forever and a day to do that, but he could only help Daniel now and there wasn’t room for any more mistakes. Vlad was so tired of making mistakes.

He grit his teeth. He ignored the pain in his face and the new knowledge that burst across his consciousness of the other wound the second blast had bored into his shoulder. He hadn’t wanted to kill Jack in a long time and he’d never wanted to kill Maddie, but those emotions were there now and they were nearly overwhelming, but he shoved them down.

Vlad wasn’t a vengeful spirit. He was not the judge, jury, and executioner.

Not anymore.

Not even now.

Because for as much as he wanted to hurt Jack and Maddie he realized he wanted something else more and killing them would hurt Daniel.

It would hurt him too, he knew that. Deep down Vlad knew that if he hurt them he’d regret it because despite their horrible actions they were ignorant of what they were doing and he would miss them if they were gone.

Now was not the time to destroy their lab. Now was not the time to burn their house to ground, splatter their blood across the walls. No. Vlad had other priorities now.

He rushed forward, faster than Jack or Maddie could track and faster than he knew he’d ever moved, and grabbed Daniel’s leg because that’s all it took and they were gone, blinking out of existence.

Distantly he registered his arm burning, but in his adrenaline addled mind he hadn’t fully grasped what had happened.

They appeared back in Vlad’s own lab and he tried to reach out to catch Daniel to soften the landing because he was too injured to take well to being dropped, but his right arm shattered under the weight. He cried out, Daniel tumbling from his grip, spasms wracking his smaller frame, his bright green ectoplasm smearing the floor.

Vlad looked down at his arm, at the damage he’d caused it without realizing and his eyes widened. Jack and Maddie had had an extra ghost shield around their work area, around Daniel and he hadn’t even noticed it, hadn’t taken stock in his fear and anger. No, instead he’d shoved his arm straight through, forced his way in and he’d never been able to do that before even with as strong as he was. He knew it was the adrenaline rush that had granted him the strength, but it still shocked him.

His body had paid the price of course, his right arm had melted down to his skeleton which had shattered under Daniel’s weight when he’d tried to catch the younger, the bones pitted down to the marrow from the force of the shield drilling into him.

Vlad had hardly felt it.

Footsteps filled his ears and his head snapped up, snarl set against his bared teeth, ready to defend both Daniel and himself if necessary. There was no danger though, instead he was met with the worried faces of Samantha and Tucker. He nearly cried in relief, thanking himself inwardly for asking them to stay.

“What happened!?” Tucker was the first to speak after a hair thin beat of silence.

Samantha rushed forward before Vlad could answer, helping him pick Daniel up and place him on a nearby table and he was glad she did, with one arm out of commission he wasn’t sure he could have done it on his own.

“Jack and Maddie caught him.” He explained, panting from the pain coursing through him and his own exhaustion. He turned to begin pulling out supplies only to jolt in pain as his limp, broken, mostly bone arm bumped the side of the table. Knowing the dangling appendage would be a problem he reached over with his other hand and gripped just below the shoulder socket where there was still flesh. Digging his fingers in he yanked down hard and sharp, not giving himself time to think and potentially chicken out.

“Dude!” Tucker yelled, but Vlad paid him no mind even though it looked like the younger man was going to puke all over the lab floor as he pulled his arm completely out of its socket and tossed it to the side like discarded garbage.

“It’ll heal cleaner that way and it won’t hinder my work now that it’s gone.” He explained, steadying his voice after a deep breath in and out. The danger was set aside, now he needed to be calm and sure in himself to give Daniel the care he needed.

A panicked doctor did shoddy work.

“Tucker pull out the halfa healing vials, the transfusion ectoplasm, and the core defibrillator.” He instructed, stepping up to Daniel and placing his hand against the thoracic retractor’s crank to turn it counter clockwise so it began to shrink back together, lowering Daniel’s forcefully splayed ribs. “Samantha I need the IV equipment, do you know how to set it up?” It would be a bit difficult to with only one hand, but thankfully Samantha nodded.

She went to find the equipment and although her hands were a bit shaky she set up Daniel’s lines, taking the transfusion bags from Tucker and getting them started.

“You’re doing well.” Vlad assured, knowing that they all needed some praise to calm them down in the high stress situation.

“Thanks,” Samantha said, voice a bit distant and lost in the moment, but that was okay and understandable, “I learned to just in case… just in case this ever happened.”

“I’m glad you did, Daniel has good friends.”

A hand touched his intact shoulder and Tucker smiled at him, “You have good friends, Vlad.”

With that they set to work. They gathered up the rest of the supplies Vlad believed they would need and began the process of healing Daniel.

At least, they almost did.

Before they could fully start, before Vlad could press a syringe of the halfa healing agent into Daniel’s neck, Jack and Maddie burst into the room, weapons trained on him. They must have tracked his and Daniel’s signals across town, their equipment picking up on the strong entities still within city limits and setting them off on a hunt.

The syringe in Vlad’s hand dropped to the floor, shattering to spill the grey liquid across the tile as it hit him full on like a freight train to the gut.

This was it. This was the day he told Jack and Maddie what had happened. All the planning in the world hadn’t prepared him for the disaster the moment had turned out to be, but part of him had always known it wouldn’t be pretty.

There was no sitting down to a cup of tea and having a polite conversation about dying.

Samantha and Tucker stepped in front of him to defend him even as Jack and Maddie screamed at them to run and Vlad found himself having an almost out of body experience as he stepped around his younger friends to face his oldest ones, white rings lighting up around him.

“Jack, Maddie, it’s time to stop all this.”

Jack’s weapon crashed to the ground like Vlad’s syringe had just moments before, Maddie’s still shaking in her hand.

And they see him… Vlad, for the first time in decades.

He’s missing an arm and the right side of his face is severely burned, but there he is standing in front of Sam and Tucker and what is there to say?

“You’re—” Jack says it like he knows and maybe he did, but Maddie is already digging into the denial.

“You’re being overshadowed.”

“No.” Vlad’s voice is soft as he says it and he lifts his hand in surrender towards her and her still primed gun, “No, Maddie I’m not and this is not how I wanted to tell you two, but I don’t have the time to explain now.”

“Explain what, Vlad.” Jack asks and God how Vlad hates it when he calls him by his regular name. He had used to hate the nicknames so much, but he knew Jack only called him Vlad when something was wrong and if anything had ever been wrong it was this.

“He wanted to tell you…” Vlad said, allowing himself to turn back to Daniel now that Maddie had slowly lowered her weapon, grip still tight in a reminder of what she could do.

“Who?” She just barely breathed.

“Daniel.”

* * *

  
It wasn’t an easy process or a short one, but at least Jack and Maddie stepped back in stunned, disbelieving silence for the rest of the procedure. Maybe they had fallen into shock, that was understandable.

Vlad had to walk Samantha and Tucker through the process for the most part, having one hand made things difficult and despite his healing speed his other arm was taking its sweet time with it. Unfortunately thanks to Daniel’s childish behavior a few months prior he only had one vial of halfa healing agent left.

Vlad pressed it to Daniel’s neck gently, letting the syringe slide through the skin as he pushed the plunger down. He was far more injured than Vlad and came first. The pain of missing an arm and part of his face could be forgotten. He’d had worst. He was mostly frustrated by how little he could help beyond giving instructions.

Injected with the healing agent Daniel’s body began to pull itself back together slowly, but Vlad could tell his core was fluctuating incorrectly due to having been touched. He’d need to have it shocked back into its proper rhythm in order for him to heal completely. However, Vlad couldn’t use the defibrillator on him until his chest cavity had sealed itself back up.

He sighed, heavy and stressed as they settled into a waiting game.

It was no small miracle that Daniel didn’t shift back to his human form considering his damaged core and Vlad sent up a thousand thanks to every ancient he could think of because of it. Maybe it was just dumb luck, or perhaps Daniel was just that ridiculously stubborn even while passed out, but remaining in his Phantom form kept him as stable as they could hope to keep him.

Slowly his sternum sealed itself back together, ribs pressing once more fully back into place. Tucker cleaned Daniel’s chest, whipping away the ectoplasm and covering the area in antiseptic before Samantha pulled the skin back together and stitched it up according to Vlad’s quiet, but steady instruction.

He kept glancing over at Jack and Maddie as they worked, trying to puzzle out the lost and terribly confused expressions on their faces. What did they think about all this? What could they think?

Maddie was still holding her gun tight, gripping it as if it were a lifeline to the world she’d left behind the moment she and Jack had burst into the lab. But Vlad had crossed that threshold before, had passed through that barrier of knowing an only human life to knowing more than even he had ever wanted and he knew there was no going back to it.

Jack and Maddie were in it now whether they wanted to be or not.

At some point while they had waited for Daniel’s ribs to slide into place, watching as the ectoplasm slowly transfused into Daniel, Tucker and Samantha had fixed him up as best they could.

They had sat him down in a chair and cleaned his arm wound, patting away the pink ectoplasm and dark red blood. They’d given him his own IV line and he’d focused a bit on healing what he could, the wound on his face clearing, his arm scabbing over painfully.

Samantha handed him a bottle of water and he downed it.

He wondered what he looked like to Jack and Maddie, sitting crumbled in a round, rolling, lab chair with no back, covered in blood and ectoplasm. They’d never seen him like this.

They’d seen him injured during the proto portal incident, but that was the worst they’d seen and Vlad had experienced far more serious injuries in the years between then and now.

He supposed he mostly looked tired, guant. He knew he had to look haggard, he could feel the dark circles burning their ways under his eyes. He ran his hand through the messy strands of his silver hair and sighed, “Do either of you know how to prep a defibrillator?” He asked and Samantha nodded, he supposed it was another thing she’d trained herself to do just in case.

“Get that one set up then, it’ll jolt his core back to its proper rhythm and he’ll heal faster.”

She did as instructed, telling Tucker what to do as she looked over the machine, carefully pressing the nodes to Daniel’s now clean skin.

Vlad stood as they finished preparing, watching closely as Tucker flipped the defibrillator on, the low whine of its charging filling the room with its distinctive sound.

Samantha lifted the paddles above her head and instructed everyone to stay clear, Vlad and Tucker lifting their hands and stepping back to ensure their safety.

The paddles hit Daniel’s chest with a heavy thunk, his body jolting, back arching in a painful bow, arms spread until he collapsed back to the metal table.

They waited for a moment, Vlad staring down at Daniel with mounting worry. The monitors they’d attached to him had slowed in their beeping, the younger halfa’s core stalling further and Vlad knew that he’d be okay, that dead things couldn’t die twice, but just the suggestion of Daniel not managing to pull through this hurt more than he could fathom.

That understanding seared through him, pressed to the forefront of his mind and he found his eyes stinging with unbidden tears.

He’d spent years telling himself he wanted Daniel back because he wanted Jack and Maddie to be happy again, because he wanted Danielle to have the person she looked up to back. He’d told himself that his desires had nothing to do with himself, and some of them didn’t, some of his wants were purely altruistic, but he’d never been a completely selfless person in his entire life.

Vlad wanted Daniel to be okay, not just for Jack and Maddie, or for Jasmine and Danielle, or for the younger halfa’s friends. No, Vlad wanted Daniel back because a world without him just wasn’t a world Vlad wanted.

He’d hated moving from Amity. He’d hated it more when he’d realized he wanted to fight Phantom again, when he’d waited for him to show up at his Wisconsin house and demand some sort of answers from Vlad for some scheme he thought Plasmius was pulling.

But Daniel had never shown up.

He’d stayed up late looking for him in the Ghost Zone, had tired himself out just like Danielle had, had clung to him and told him to stay after they’d fought at the Christmas party, not just because he thought it would make his friends happier if they saw him again, but because he knew that it would have made him happier too.

That’s why Daniel’s words just earlier that day had cut so much, that’s why he hated the idea of their lines connecting with no feeling behind it. Because there were feelings behind it for Vlad and they didn’t just include his fears of rejection or ideas of inadequacy.

He wanted Daniel to want him not simply because he wished anyone would want him, but because he wanted Daniel in particular and Vlad realized that as he looked at the younger, limp and seemingly lifeless against the operation table, realized that he had probably wanted that for longer than he knew.

“Do it again.” He said, stern and scared and sure.

“Shouldn’t we give him a moment?” Samantha asked, looking at the monitors and he could see the look of worry and hope in her eyes as she begged them to show a change in Daniel’s status.

“Do it again, now.” He instructed again and Tucker flipped the switch on the core defibrillator to start it whining again.

Once more Samantha lifted the paddles up and told them to stand clear, once more their hands lifted and they stepped back and as she slammed them down into his chest Daniel’s bright green eyes flew open.

Danny wrenched himself upwards, clawing to the surface of consciousness, pushing through what felt like pounds and pounds of water seeping around him. He choked, tried to scream, found himself unbound and turned to the side.

He puked, body seeming to turn inside out as ectoplasm tore up the inside of his throat to spatter against the floor. He heaved, pushing it from his punctured, aching lungs and stomach. Coughs wracked through him and around newly grown teeth until finally after what seemed like and may have truly been years, Danny stopped drowning.

Sweat dripped down his forehead, down his messy bangs and goosebump covered skin, but he could move freely and even pain drunk and disoriented he knew what that meant.

He was free.

Somehow he had escaped.

The first person he saw was Vlad, the man messy, covered in all manner of substances, shirt stained red, green, and pink. He was missing an arm, that was new and he looked… happy, relieved, overjoyed.

Had Vlad… had Vlad saved him?

He had to have, this was, Danny blinked at the floor, this was a lab, Vlad’s lab. He must have been brought here after…

Danny pressed his hands to his head as the memories swelled up inside him, too painful to think about, he could still hear the tool they used to split him open, cranking along its ridges, ringing in his ears.

A hand settled on his shoulder and he flinched before recognizing the touch as Vlad’s own, the man’s hand a steady pressure there like it had been throughout many points in his life.

“Breathe.”

The word was a life line and Danny used it to drag in a great gulp of air. It caught on his insides, sending another fit of wracking coughs through him, but he pushed through it as he continued to drink in the oxygen around him.

His white rings lit up around his waist and his core was finally given reprieve as, now fairly healed, he shifted back into his human form.

Twin gasps filled the room and as Danny looked up from the floor, moving to try and sit up properly he saw them, his parents.

They’d seen everything.

How long had they been there? The last he remembered they were prying him apart like they were pulling out the seams that bound him together.

The weapon he spotted in his mother’s hand fell to the ground and the sound made him flinch again. He opened his mouth to speak, but his throat was torn and scratchy from his screams and coughing fits. He barely managed a croak in their direction before arms encircled him and he was caught up in Sam and Tucker’s embraces.

Had they been there the whole time? Had they helped Vlad? Who had even found him?

His head was spinning, but the familiar press of his friend’s arms around him at least provided some level of comfort, keeping the panic of his parents knowing what he was at bay as Vlad stepped in front of them.

“Danny is that…” Maddie started, frozen stiff, not believing her own fear filled eyes. She hadn’t seen her son in years and there he was, more grown than she could remember and haggard looking, injured from —

Her mind wouldn’t let her think it, wouldn’t let the words bloom across the conscious parts of her, but the dread sank into the back of her brain and burrowed in tight.

Jack took a stumbling step forwards but Vlad held out his arm, holding him back if only in gesture alone. Danny’s name scraped out of him but he didn’t hear it leave his mouth, too stunned at what he saw.

“He needs to rest.” Vlad said, whispered as if speaking too loud in this moment couldn’t possibly be allowed, meeting Jack and Maddie’s gazes with pleading eyes, begging them to be quiet too, to take what had happened and simply swallow it down like a pill they’d long neglected to take.

“Vladdie…” Jack said and Vlad felt some tension leave him, sag out from his shoulder blade muscles both whole and torn at his voice, at the nickname.

Jack wasn’t angry.

He wouldn’t have called him that if he was. Vlad let himself believe that rather than worrying that perhaps Jack was just too in shock to say anything else.

Danny lifted his hand towards his parents in an awkward wave and he wanted to cringe at how not smooth the whole reveal was going because first they’d vivisection him, but now he could do little else than wave sheepishly. His mom and dad stared at him and he stared back, tears dampening his cheeks.

“Change the transfusion bags to the human blood,” Vlad cut into the moment and Danny realized that, oh yeah, he still wasn’t completely better yet. Sam and Tucker moved away from him to do as instructed, bringing out another iv bag while they were at it and Danny was thankful, he was going to be dehydrated as hell and he could remember from his earlier snooping sessions around the lab that most of Vlad’s iv bags had pain medication mixed in.

He sat quietly as he was set up, partially because he was too tired to speak and partially because he didn’t think he could if he tried, remembering the horrid croak he’d given.

“Daniel.”

Vlad spoke quietly to him and he looked up to the other halfa, pointing at the spot where his right arm had used to be with a worried look on his face. He’d lost limbs, it wasn’t fun, Vlad should be sitting down too.

“Don’t worry, it’ll grow back,” he reassured, choosing not to tell Daniel how he’d lost it. He didn’t want to burden him with any more knowledge at the moment. “May your parents come near you. I won’t let them close if you don’t want to see them.”

He meant that. Vlad wasn’t quite sure how he would accomplish it, perhaps he’d continually teleport them away until either they gave up or his body gave in to exhaustion. But he’d do it.

He’d keep Daniel safe.

Danny hesitated. Looking to his parents with eyes clouded by uncertainty, then back to Vlad before slowly, his head tilted downward in a nod.

Vlad stepped aside, looking back at his friends, “Jack, Maddie…” he glanced at Daniel, “Don’t bombard him with questions, I’ll answer anything you have to ask later. He’s tired and won’t be able to speak well for a while.”

Jack and Maddie stood still for a minute before, as if thawed, Maddie broke free of the confusion icing her over and onto the floor as she ran forward. Her shaking hands reached out to Danny and Jack wasn’t far behind as they held themselves above him, too scared to touch.

Danny reached out too, scared in his own right, but he managed to clasp both their hands gently.

“Is it really you?” Maddie asked and Danny nodded.

“H-Hey mom…” he said, the words rough and scratchy, but enough to send his parents' arms crashing around him. He stiffed at the pain of in, drawing a sharp breath in through his teeth, but he didn’t blame them.

He pushed the pain along with his apprehension down. He was scared of them. Had been for a very long time, but he could let the sickness and terror wash over him later. Danny had long since learned how to repress it.

“But we, we buried you,” Jack said in disbelief, his free hand coming up to touch Danny’s face.

“Faked,” Danny said, hating the pain that flashed through their eyes at his statement, but he’d always known it would be there when he told them. How couldn’t it be? Burying a child was painful enough, being told by that child that they had designed the circumstances that created that pain, that suffering, was a different animal altogether.

“You’re Phantom…?” His mother’s voice sounded somehow even more broken than it had when she had asked if he was himself sitting there on Vlad’s table and Danny could see the memories of their torture of him in her eyes. He had always known this would break them.

“I-I am.”

Always had been, always would be. He squeezed his fingers tight around theirs, finding it odd how warm his parents hands were in his. They had seemed so cold on their lab table, but here they felt real and warm and comforting. He knew it was a discrepancy he’d have to face but for now he closed his eyes, leaned down to touch his forehead to his mother’s own as they all cried, as the weight of their lives pushed down against their shoulders and sent them crumbling inwards towards one another, finally reunited and terrified of what that entailed.

Eventually Vlad tugged them away gently, hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Let him rest.” He said as thankfully they pulled away willingly, “I can answer your questions.”

They nodded, saying soft goodbyes, eyes watching Danny as Vlad escorted them out of the lab they hadn’t known he’d had, scared that if they looked away Danny would disappear again.

Vlad knew that feeling well.

Halfway up the stairs back to the main level Jack’s hand wrapped around his remaining wrist, squeezing hard, edging on dangerous, anger Vlad hadn’t thought was there seeping into his quiet voice.

“You knew.”

It wasn’t a question and Vlad supposed he deserved that, besides, how could he lie. They had seen him shapeshifted, had seen his prepared lap, his special equipment. Ignorant people didn’t have such things.

“Yes.”

“How long?” Jack demanded, looking back down the stairs as if he could see his son through the walls, “How long have you known he was… he was…”

“A half ghost, a halfa, that’s what the other ghosts call us—”

“Us?” Maddie cut in and he realized that perhaps they weren’t processing this as smoothly or at least as quickly as he had hoped.

What he was was an everyday fact of life for him, it was common knowledge. Vlad should have known better. Explaining this, all of this, would be like explaining rocket science to a kindergartner. He couldn’t just jump in. They had seen his transform, but they didn’t know what all that entailed.

This was going to be a long, slow talk.

“I’ll explain once we get some tea, maybe coffee. I need to eat something. Growing an arm back is difficult.” He hummed, pulling away carefully from Jack and continuing into the main living room, “And to answer your question, I’ve known what he is since he was fourteen.”

“You hurt him, I’ve seen you do it,” Maddie said as they stood in front of their couch, “And you’re telling me you knew it was him.”

“Yes.” Vlad said, there was no point in hiding it, there was too much evidence and it would only damage his relationship further than it likely already was. Everyone in Amity knew the so-called Wisconsin ghost and Phantom didn’t get along, “He knows who I am too.”

“You knew he… you knew he was already dead at his funeral! You let us believe we’d never see him again!” Maddie’s anger was growing and it was righteous and justified. “You let us think he was murdered!”

Vlad was tired, he didn’t want to snap, but he was tired and in pain and just starting to come to terms with what he’d come to realize as he’d looked at Daniel’s broken body on his lab table. He didn’t mean to snap but fuck how was he supposed to stay calm after all of this? Didn't they realize that Daniel had caused his world to come crashing down too?

“Because that’s what he wanted, Maddie!”

She paused at his words, looking at him, mouth agape, eyes wide and stunned into silence as tears filled Vlad’s eyes and he hated that they were there, hated how his face flushed and his chest ached deeper than he’d ever known it to shatter.

Maybe Jack had been right at Daniel’s funeral years ago. Maybe everyone worked through grief differently and it just so happened that Vlad’s version of dealing with it when it came to the other halfa was pure denial of the fact that he felt it at all.

“He made it loud and clear that he wanted nothing to do with living anymore! He could hear me at his funeral, knew that I knew and he did nothing! He was here the Christmas before last and I tried to get him to stay for you and he snapped and punched a hole in my head!” He shouted back, shaking, the sob that ached to wrack through him burning up his throat as he desperately tried to swallow it down. “Don’t you think it hurt me too!?”

“How could your grief ever compare to o—” Maddie had started to say and Vlad could understand the sentiment, couldn’t even find it in himself to be mad at those words in particular, but then Jack cut in and his voice sounded far too stable, too quiet and sure for the conversation around him.

“Your soul line, it’s his, isn’t it.”

Vlad stared at him, balked, heart stalling in his chest at the other man’s quick deduction of the truth, at the lack of question or doubt in his voice. Jack had seen his line that day in the lab where they had talked and finally begun to heal from the past. He had seen it against Vlad’s neck and commented that it reminded him of how Daniel’s line had presented.

He had thought it was a coincidence then, since unfinished lines disappeared when someone died, but his son wasn’t dead, not fully it seemed.

Maddie’s voice faltered, falling into a stunned silence as heavy as a lead blanket somehow soaked through with rain as Jack spoke once more, pressing the nail into Vlad’s own ready and waiting coffin.

“And you love him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!! This chapter was so so interesting to write and I loved doing it, it was a challenge! 
> 
> Also! Hell yeah hell yeah big idiot Vlad is coming to terms with his feelings! Jack has to put em bluntly cuz he’s a blunt dude, but! 
> 
> Also also, I’m a sucker for identify reveals so now both the boys gotta be like, yes we are in fact ghosts
> 
> I’m splitting this up into yet another part, I know I said it would only be 2, but I wanted to keep the whole discussion with Jack and Maddie as a separate thing
> 
> What an eventful day Danny and Vlad are having huh
> 
> Kudos and comments as always appreciated 💕💕


	13. Lessons in Omelet Making: Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This finally chapter of the lesson in omelet making wow!
> 
> Vlad, Jack, and Maddie have a talk  
> Danny realizes some very important things  
> And Maddie the cat wins best pet of the year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the trigger warnings from last chap spill over to here along with like some panic attack mentions

“And you love him.”

The words made Vlad’s ears ring, static cotton white noise pressing in on him as he looked at Jack and Maddie with unseeing eyes. The gaping wound of his arm throbbed and ached, over-exposed and vulnerable. His lungs threatened to burst with the breath of air he sucked in.

Years of burying everything, everything, down inside of himself and Jack just said it. Said it like that, like it was a fact and like it was easy, heavy and important still, but easy.

But love had never been easy for Vlad. It was always a bitter pill to swallow, one soaked in side effects.

Love even from the start hadn’t been something given freely to him. It had hardly been given at all. His parents certainly hadn’t tossed it around and Jack and Maddie had withdrawn their own for years. Yes, Vlad knew why now, but knowing why you had a scar didn’t make it fade overnight.

Some things were too deep for rationale.

Especially this.

“No.” He said and he did so with all the strength he could muster because it was a lie and he knew that. God how he knew it after seeing Daniel broken like that. He never wanted to see him like that again, couldn’t fathom it because he could hardly process what he _had_ seen. “No. No. No.”

He held his hand out in front of him, thumb and forefinger up as if he were a teacher trying to teach himself not to feel.

“It’s not, it’s not like he likes me anyway, he’s made that explicitly clear. Just today he said it would be gross and he’d never be with me when Tucker brought it u—”

“Wait, he’s been near here, Tucker knew?” Maddie asked.

“Well, yes, Samantha and Tucker have both known longer than I have a—”

“And they pretended he was murdered too?” Jack cut in and Vlad realized he wasn’t going to get anywhere in this extremely complex conversation without setting some ground rules.

He took a deep breath in to try and calm himself and he gestured to the couch, “You should really sit, this is a long story.” He said as he stepped to the entrance of the living room, “Stay here, I’ll be back in a moment with some food.”

With that he left them, trying not to listen to their concerned whispers as he walked to the kitchen. He wanted to summon a Vlad clone to prepare the food, but he didn’t have the extra energy to spare for it, his core too focused on healing him.

He sighed as he made some tea and coffee, pulling a few snacks from his cupboards. Dully he noted that doing things one handed was annoying and he made a mental note to not lose anymore arms. It was troublesome.

Vlad frowned as he placed the items on a rolling cart. He caught his reflection in the silver of the metal cart and didn’t much like what he saw. He was roughed up, covered in sweat, blood, and tears. He didn’t look sane enough to be having this conversation, he didn’t look like a trustworthy source of information.

He was also beginning to wonder something…

How long were his and Daniel’s lines now? Surely they were longer. They had to be and yet he knew they hadn’t connected because when that happened you were supposed to feel it, supposed to feel different.

If anything was going to connect them it should have been this, right?

After all Vlad had… realized some things.

He didn’t want to think the word. He didn’t want to think in general. He was tired, a nap sounded nice. Wouldn’t it be lovely to sink into nothingness for a while, pretend everything that had happened was all a bad dream?

He didn’t have the luxury.

What he did have was a tray of drinks and food and two extremely anxious people in his main living room.

Might as well get it over with. Might as well have that polite sit down conversation about death that he knew wasn’t really possible because he may or may not have pictured it before and it never went well.

He wheeled the cart into the living room. Jack and Maddie were pressed tight together, fearful, worried expressions on their faces as they murmured to one another.

He poured himself some coffee and shoved a doughnut in his mouth, eating it quickly for the energy. “Eat.” He instructed, stern, but still soft, concerned. “It’s been a long day.”

Understatement of the century.

He sat down in a separate chair across from them and the coffee table. Belatedly he realized that this was the same living room he’d held his holiday party in the night Daniel had punched a hole in his brains. He stirred his coffee.

“I’m going to try and explain what is going on, but I’m really going to need you to hold your questions till the end because it’s… it’s all very, very complicated and that’s putting it lightly.” He started and when they nodded Vlad began.

“Back in college we made the proto portal, that’s when this all started. My incident with the portal exposed me to ectoradition in dangerous amounts. I was taken to the hospital and the two of you,” he rolled his only hand with a bit of a sour expression on his face.

Despite Jack’s reasonable explanation and apology these details still stung a good bit.

“Anyway, in the hospital I died, partially. You see the ectoradiation denatured my DNA. It was a slow and painful process, but over time my molecular structure bound itself to the ectoplasm within my system and now integrated into my body it tried to heal me. It did, for the most part. I was healed, I got stronger, but I also became part ghost.” He explained, taking a sip of his coffee and letting the heat of it against his pallet ground him further in the moment. “It’s really quite fascinating science we could get into it later, but the nitty gritty isn’t important right now.”

Well, they could get into it if they were still his friends after this. That all seemed pretty up in the air.

“So I can turn into a ghost, the Wisconsin ghost as you call me. I prefer Plasmius. I can do the things ghosts do, blast ghost rays, duplicate, overshadow as you know Jack, and so on.”

At this point he was purposefully not looking at their faces, he didn’t want to. He knew that they knew the damage he had caused and that truth wasn’t something that sat comfortable with him.

“Being a ghost comes with perks, but it also comes with issues. I have an obsession which led to some questionable behaviors, but I’m doing better, have been for a while.” He left it at that or now, he could get into the semantics of his obsession if they asked after he was done talking. “I also can’t die, or age anymore than I currently seem to have.”

“You’re immortal?” Jack asked despite the fact that Vlad had distinctly asked that they wait.

“Yes. Daniel is too. We can’t die, we are dead. We will watch as everyone around us grows old and dies and we will just still be here, presumably forever.”

It was just, absolutely, without question, so fun.

Vlad picked up his story again, Jack finally leaning forward to take a doughnut. Maddie was still apprehensive and Vlad could understand that, she’d always been a bit more careful, a bit slower to warm up to things.

“Daniel died at fourteen, he walked into your ghost portal and he didn’t walk out the same. The portal turned on and he was blasted with ectoradiation. Unlike with me the process of becoming a half ghost was instantaneous. I don’t know too much about it other than that it was excruciating and that he doesn’t like to talk about it.”

Not that Vlad could blame Daniel for that, he didn’t like to talk about his time in the hospital or the pain or fear either. He didn’t like to remember looking into a mirror and seeing someone who wasn’t him, someone who held his mind, but not his body. He didn’t talk about the night terrors, or the little things that would instigate flashbacks or feelings of deja vu or dread. No, those words, that knowledge, was held close to his chest, buried between his ribs, and Daniel did the same.

“So he became Phantom, he fought off ghosts coming to Amity, which by the way it should be noted that ghosts do have feelings, albeit often somewhat narrow ones, and conscious thoughts, which calls into question the whole ethicacy of ghost hunting, but we can get into that philosophical debate later because this is where it gets complicated.”

“This is where it gets complicated?” Maddie asked, voice constrained with questions and he could hear the words she’d wanted to say in her syllables.

Hadn’t it already been complicated?

And Vlad didn’t know what to say to that because to an outsider sure, it had already been very complicated, but for him and Daniel the portal incidences were about as simple as it got.

Living in a world of the surreal and strange made those things real and familiar and that desensitization was not easy to walk back on.

Vlad opted to simply nod instead of truly answer, “So, there is a ghost called Clockwork who controls time and there is a collective of ghosts known as The Observants, and I only know what Daniel has told me about this next part, but apparently The Observants went to Clockwork and told him that Daniel was going to become the most dangerous ghost in the known universe after a series of events following a freak accident during which you two, Jasmine, Samantha, Tucker, and a teacher from Daniel’s high school died in an explosion.”

Vlad took a quick break to take another drink of his coffee and to maybe leave the story at a dramatic cliffhanger. He may have been exhausted, but he still couldn’t quite pass up the opportunity to be a smidge dramatic. It was just who he was.

“Anyway, this extremely powerful Daniel would essentially destroy the world, so Clockwork tasked our Daniel with erasing his evil self from the timeline, which he did, for the most part, but he was still nervous about becoming evil. Because of this he decided to fake his death. He saw that watching his loved ones die had made him snap basically, and so he decided to leave so he wouldn’t have to feel that pain.”

Vlad decided to leave out the parts about how Dan was part him. If that needed to be discussed later it would be, but for now it was a bit too bizarre to get into.

Jack and Maddie were just now learning that people could be part ghosts, to add onto that that people’s ghosts could be rendered from their physical bodies and consciousnesses to become separate entries capable of blending with other entities was too complex at the moment. Even Vlad struggled to wrap his mind around the concept and he’d known for over a year now.

“We looked for him, we did. Danielle and I and — oh, important note, Danielle is part ghost too, we can talk about that later,” Vlad really wished he had two hands so he could fiddle with his fingers or something, he felt far too still. “But yes, we looked everywhere for him, Samantha, Tucker, Jasmine, Valerie, we all searched.”

“So we were… we were the only ones left out of the loop?” Maddie asked and Vlad nodded sheepishly. It didn’t exactly look very good.

“Daniel didn’t want to be found, we asked Clockwork where he was, but he wouldn’t answer us. I saw Daniel very briefly the Christmas before last and as I said he punched a hole in my head… he wasn’t, well, he wasn’t doing very well. After that most of us stopped looking… tried to move on. I still looked, but even I slowed down until Jasmine and Valerie announced their wedding.” He took a slow deep breath in as his arm gave a throb and he lifted his hand to rub at his shoulder which was now slowly reforming.

It had to be a gruesome sight, watching his arm steadily gain centimeters as they spoke. Ah well, it couldn’t be helped. Vlad would have to change the bandages soon though before they got too tight.

“I figured he should at least know about them, so I went to Clockwork to ask him to pass on the message. I was surprised when he let me see Daniel myself. He was in the past, all this time, on a farm.” Vlad still marveled at that, at how Daniel had managed to live years before he’d been born, find a place where it didn’t matter if he had no way of truly identifying himself.

“Then he showed up to the wedding, he’s Dimirti, by the way. He can shapeshift, so you’ve technically spoken to him a few times since he got back.”

They hadn’t talked much of course, just a few times in passing here and there. Vlad had gotten the impression that Daniel didn’t really enjoy speaking to his parents through the mouth of a stranger, but he supposed that wouldn’t be much of a problem anymore.

“This morning Tucker and I were working on some tech for the Ghost Zone down in my lab, I left to take a call and when I came back Daniel was telling Tucker that he could never well… be with me romantically,” okay that wasn’t quite accurate, Daniel had said he wouldn’t have sex with him, but Vlad felt his explanation captured it well enough. “He stormed from the house and I thought he needed space but then the hours went on. I got worried and then I realized that you had captured him. I brought him here and you saw the rest.”

He polished off the last of his coffee before pouring himself another cup, taking a moment to breathe, to let it sink in a bit.

“So we’re all caught up. I know Daniel is sorry about leaving, I’m sure he’ll say that for himself, he wanted to tell you two soon, but he was really just trying to protect everyone.”

Vlad finally looked up at Jack and Maddie, trying to take stock of the mixed emotions blatant on their faces.

“Questions?”

The pair floundered for a few moments, cycling through the information that had just been dumped onto them until finally Maddie broke free of the tangle and spoke.

“You died because of the proto portal incident?”

“For the most part, yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

Vlad looked up from his food as she said those words, finding a hurt he hadn’t expected there to be in her voice, in her eyes, and as their gazes met he caught a glimpse of the woman she had been in college, the one who had loved him and Jack in tandem, who had intended to bond with the both of them.

Even with as close as they’d become over the course of the last two years Vlad still hadn’t seen that part of her again.

He realized that, in much the same manner as he’d done with Jack, that he hadn’t really considered the grief she must have held at his supposed death.

They’d all lost each other along the way and now decades later they were just starting to pick up the pieces.

“I spent years dying and no one ever came for me…” he said, soft because he’d imagined telling them this and it had hurt every time, “I became something I hated, something we planned to hunt down. You know the way that ghost dies influences their obsessions, well, I died alone and in pain, knowing that if you ever knew what I was becoming you would push me away all over again. There’s a lot of reasons why I didn’t say anything and none of them are pretty.”

He’d made a lot of mistakes. He’d ruined so many things before he’d even realized there was something there to be ruined, his relationship with Daniel included.

“Was all this real… fixing things with us after the funeral?”

The implication hurt, the idea that he would simply pretend scathing enough to make him wince with the pain of it. Vlad knew the question was a valid one, he had lied about many, many things over the years and he and everyone else had maintained the charade of Daniel’s murder.

“It’s real.” He said, part of him wanting to get up and leave, to run, because he wasn’t accustomed to the scale of the emotions he was being put through. He wasn’t big enough for them, there wasn’t enough room in his chest. “It’s real and I’m scared you want nothing to do with me now. I knew we’d have this conversation eventually, I’m not aging, but… I thought I had more time.”

How odd that in a life doomed to immortality Vlad still always found himself wishing he had more time.

Perhaps that was just part of the human condition, if he were inclined to wax poetic about it he may have come to that conclusion, but tired and in pain the best Vlad could reason was simply that he was clumsy when it came to other people, always had been.

He was not adept at interaction and predisposed to regret and wistfulness. He lived much of his life searching for the future, for when things would get easier, but easier never came smooth and the future was forever when there was no natural conclusion.

Vlad was starting to understand that the future began in the next nanosecond, not when the world magically aligned itself to grant him what he wanted. His future, his easier so to speak, was something he needed to actively pursue and in far healthier mannerisms than he’d done so in the past.

“I can understand that you may not want to be around me anymore but please, for Daniel’s sake, forgive him.”

That was the most he could ask for, that was all that he felt he had the right to want.

“He was scared of being hurt, being captured, and he was scared of snapping if he watched everyone around him age and die. He knew it would hurt you, but he was trying to do good.”

They didn’t answer his words, didn’t grant his request, lapsing instead into an uncomfortable silence.

Vlad expected more questions, many, many more but in the end he only got one, asked quietly by Maddie.

“Will the two of you be okay?”

The two of…

“The both of us?”

Vlad stared at them in confusion, not daring to hope that they were actually concerned about him after what had happened.

“Yeah, V-Man, will you two heal okay?” Jack asked, leaning forward in his seat and Vlad was almost too scared to believe that he saw genuine worry in his college friend’s eyes.

“Aren’t you mad at me?”

“Oh absolutely.” Maddie said, voice sure and sturn, but laced with a caring undercurrent he’d heard her use when scolding Daniel. “But you’re missing an arm and Danny is hurt, that should come first.”

Vlad got the sinking feeling that what came second was an ass kicking.

Still, this had gone better than he had expected.

“You’re more than welcome to spend the night here,” Vlad offered, noticing from outside the window that it was starting to get dark and all things considered the Fenton’s may not want to be too far away from Daniel for the time being.

Before Jack or Maddie could accept or decline his answer movement caught their attention and they all looked to find Daniel, tired looking, but very much alive in the entryway.

“Daniel you shouldn’t be moving around,” Vlad said, standing up quickly only to become woozy at the sudden movement while injured.

“Neither should you, fruitloop.” Daniel said and the nickname made Vlad’s heart ache after all that had happened that day, all the realizations he’d gone through.

Daniel’s arms were full of medical supplies and he was wearing a new shirt and jeans. He still had blood and ectoplasm on him though, was still caked in sweat.

Why hadn’t he finished cleaning up?

He sat the supplies down on the coffee table, grabbing a slice of cake from the rolling cart and taking a bite. He took a little while to chew it, but eventually he got it down and followed it up with a small swig of coffee.

He turned to Vlad, “Show me your arm and don’t be a smartass, you know I mean the wound.”

“Language, Daniel.” Vlad said quietly as he turned a bit to show the younger halfa the stump.

Daniel smiled, soft and amused and Vlad wanted desperately to believe it meant something, “I’ve been through a lot today I can say ass, Vladimir.”

Vlad supposed he was right, humming his agreement because he didn’t want to give Daniel to satisfaction of outright winning the minuscule dispute.

Daniel’s hands were on him then, careful and steady. Vlad felt his face heat up as he caught Jack and Maddie’s eyes, remembering how bluntly Jack had put his feelings for Daniel. He swallowed around a quickly drying throat.

Daniel undid the bandages around his stump, Vlad wincing slightly as the cotton caught some of his scabs and pulled away in a sticky, unpleasant manner.

“I’m sorry,” Daniel said, quiet enough so just Vlad and he could hear it and glancing at him Vlad saw that he was apologizing for more than just accidentally hurting him with the gauze. He wasn’t sure how far that apology extended, what Daniel was trying to cover with his words, but Vlad found them warming all the same.

“It’s okay…”

Was it?

“You’re healing nicely,” Daniel commented as he gingerly cleaned the wound, covering it in some antibiotic before gently covering it again. It was odd to think about it as just another injury, he’d lost an entire arm for ancient’s sake, but for them this was bearable. For them this wound required basic dressing and patience, some pain medication, food, water, and rest. He’d likely be better by morning.

“It would be healing faster if someone hadn’t broken into my medical supplies,” Vlad had meant it to be a soft jab, but Daniel still winced a bit.

“I’ll help you make some more… somehow. I’m sure I can figure it out.”

Vlad smiled, he liked the sound of that. He would be happy with Daniel as a lab partner until their lines completed and then… well, then he wouldn’t have to worry about finding a soulmate. It was like Daniel had said, it would be out of the way.

Out of the way and over with, just like that.

“You should get some rest.” Daniel said as he finished the new bandage. “I’m going to talk to them for a while.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me here?” He asked, feeling a bit foolish as soon as he’d said it because why would Daniel want him there specifically when Samantha and Tucker were still around? They were probably cleaning the lab, but they’d be up in a minute or two to give Daniel the moral support he needed.

“Nah I’ll be fine, Sam and Tuck are here.” Daniel said, confirming Vlad’s thoughts in a way that put a pit of unwanted and unnerving disappointment in his stomach.

Couldn’t he just go back to how he’d felt before seeing Daniel injured, before Jack had stated his feelings so bluntly? Maybe if he could it wouldn’t hurt so much to be sent off to his room like some petulant child.

“Fine.”

The world left him in much the same manner it had on Jasmine’s wedding night, when Daniel had told him he was staying so he could file his and Vlad’s relationship away in a neat little box to be pressed away and forgotten, cold and bitter.

He thought he’d already resigned himself to this, but it seemed that he was still doomed to get his feelings tangled up in areas no one wanted him to be, always wanting what he couldn’t have.

Vlad left the room quietly, he was too tired to stay, to argue he should be there. He wanted a warm bath and a soft bed. At least those things wouldn’t push him away.

* * *

Danny frowned as he watched Vlad leave the room, not having expected the warm energy previously between them as he’d applied the new bandages to turn so suddenly cold. For a moment there things had felt pretty amicable between them, although, given their last interaction before he’d been caught, he supposed that the warmth was bound to be fleeting.

It wasn’t exactly enjoyable to be laughed at, to hear someone say they wouldn’t be with you. Danny had experienced a similar situation in high school during his freshman year.

He’d overheard a few of the girls in the hall laughing and deciding to eavesdrop, he’d heard Paulina saying she’d rather bring a possum to prom than go with Danny when Star had suggested she ask him out as a prank.

He hadn’t liked Paulina, they didn’t have soul lines, and back then he’d still fully intended to bond with Sam and Tuck, but hearing someone outright say that he wasn’t worth anything to them had hurt.

He hadn’t wanted to be treated like a joke.

Danny should have been more careful, no, he should have been more considerate.

He realized he’d hurt Vlad’s feelings, at least on some level, and Vlad had every right to be mad. Vlad, of course, was as Danny had been when he’d heard Paulina talking all those years ago.

He didn’t want Danny, but that didn’t mean it didn’t suck to hear.

He set those thoughts aside for the time being though, deciding instead to dig into some of the food, smearing a heavy helping of butter and jam across a fluffy biscuit and quickly downing the carbs.

“Mm, how much did Vlad explain?” He asked as he opened a bottle of water, wanting more coffee, but knowing it was best to stay hydrated.

“A lot.” His dad offered up and Danny supposed that was the best way to encapsulate his life/death. A lot. “We really… we really hurt you, didn’t we?”

Danny sighed, this was a tiredness he’d known for years and it had little to do with the torture he’d experienced at their hands just a short while ago. “You did but I… I learned how to separate it from, well, you guys, a long time ago.”

He’d had to. It had been the only way to stay sane. Ever since he’d been fourteen he’d had to take his parents and separate them into two distinct entities.

“Who you are as ghost hunters and who you are as my parents, aren’t the same people.”

They were. Of course they were, but he couldn’t picture it like that for too long or it would hurt too much.

Jack was a ghost hunter and his dad. Maddie was a ghost hunter and his mom.

Those were mutually exclusive.

Except they weren’t and that frightened him every single day so he’d convinced himself otherwise.

“Danny we —” his mom reached across to the cart to try and gently touch his hand as he made himself another biscuit, but he pulled away.

A jolt of guilt spilled through him at the involuntary action. They had touched him down in Vlad’s lab, had cried in each other’s arms, why would he be apprehensive now? He wanted to wrack his brains for the answers, but they wouldn’t come to him and all he could think was that he didn’t exactly want anyone to touch him for a while.

He wanted to feel his own skin, know his own breath. He wanted just a bit of space, if only for a few minutes.

“Can we, can we not talk about it..?” He asked, wanting that small grace. He knew they hadn’t meant to hurt him, knew they wouldn’t have tortured him the way they had if they had known, so why talk about it?

Why not simply set it aside?

Danny would have loved to have fallen asleep and pretended it hadn’t happened in the first place.

His parents nodded and in their eyes he saw the same wants he had, the want to put it behind them, the want to try and be normal even though normal was such a shattered and forgotten thing now.

If they could, wouldn’t it be easier to seal the memory of the basement lab off, to fill the room and their throats with cement and choke it back?

“I think I’m going to stay here, with Vlad.” He said as Sam and Tucker came into the room, beginning to eat as well. They had cleaned themselves, but still appeared fairly shaken. Danny hated that they had dealt with his injuries, both a short while ago and in their youth. It had been a lot to ask of them while they were in high school and it was a lot to ask now. “I don't think home…”

_Feels right, feels safe._

Danny could almost hear those words touch the still air of the living room, but he didn’t let them. He didn’t want his parents to know anymore grief, guilt, and regret than they already knew.

Thankfully though it seemed they understood and as the conversation moved on no one brought up his torture again.

* * *

  
By the time Vlad made it up the stairs to his bedroom his eyelids felt like lead. They felt hot, like he was coming down with a fever, but he knew it was just the exhaustion burning into his forehead alongside a pounding headache.

He went through the motions of undressing like a robot, his body moving on autopilot. He stripped off his clothes, removing himself from the sweat, blood, and ectoplasm soaked fabric without even smelling the mess or registering how his shirt and pants clung to his skin.

He turned on the hot water in his tub, letting it pool in the basin, steam curling off the surface as he simply stared at himself in the mirror.

A macabre reflection met him, a picture of a tired man with dark circles and messy hair meeting his dull eyes. He looked like he had in the hospital, the comparison filling him with a well known dread that seemed to have soaked it’s way into his ghost core decades ago.

He would never be free of that fear, of the terror of seeing himself dying, rotting, and falling away to a monster.

Vlad lifted a hand and ran it across his face, touching the new skin there. When he’d been shot by Jack and Maddie’s ectoweapons he had felt the burn of the proto portal incident. But he’d pushed down the fear to save Daniel.

He’d pushed away the panic and the pain to grab the other halfa.

Why hadn’t he seen it sooner?

Why did it take an incident as bad as this to see through the muddied, confusing pools of his mind?

“Stupid.” He mumbled to himself as he felt molten tears sting his eyes, he was so, so stupid.

He had kept looking for Daniel! He had searched when he didn’t have to, he’d invited him to the wedding, had tried desperately to fill the void he had left in his own family! He had clung to him even after Daniel had hurt him, had chased after him on his rooftop! He had been upset at his funeral, had visited his grave numerous times!

Why hadn’t he realized why? Looking back Vlad could see all the times he’d told himself he was feeling something different when really he’d been grieving.

This was why having Daniel near him these past four months had secretly hurt him so much. This was why he couldn’t stand being told their lines were something to get out of the way. This was why his brain had turned to static after Daniel had said he’d never be with him just that morning, why he’d done his soldering work in a blur and hadn’t been able to process it let alone speak to Tucker for two hours.

Their lines still hadn’t connected.

Vlad jarred himself from his spiraling thoughts with the reminder. He stared at the mirror, at that damned line around his neck like a noose. It was almost full, painfully so.

There was barely a centimeter left. If anyone saw them they could easily assume they had bonded but that pale stripe of bare skin right at the center of his throat proved differently.

What the hell else would it take?

What monumental, moving instance?

Vlad had essentially chopped off his arm for ancient’s sake!

He didn’t want to know. He didn’t want to think about it. At least, that was what he told himself as he lifted his hand to trace the small centimeter that separated them, his mind wandering to what could finally be the last piece of the puzzle.

After doing that, after staring at himself and falling into a rabbit hole of thoughts for entirely too long, he moved to the bathtub.

The water was scalding, the kind of heat that gives your arms and legs phantom pins and needles before numbing to deep static pain. Vlad let it redden his skin, let his legs feel like they didn’t exist and existed too much all at once. He let himself suck in a breath at the discomfort, held it in his chest as his shoulders tensed. He supported himself with his one hand on the rim as he sank in, gingerly laying his stumped arm on the edge as the water pooled against his stomach.

He wished he could sink in all the way, dunk his head under the hot water and open his eyes through the haze until it felt like they would melt, but doing that would get the bandages on his arm wet.

Vlad settled on cleaning himself off instead, grabbing a towel and some soap and gently sweeping away the evidence of what had happened. He brushed water through his tangled hair, smoothing it out and cleaning away the sweat with shampoo and conditioner. It was tedious one handed and he wished again that he had the energy to expend towards cloning himself, but eventually he felt satisfied.

Stepping out of the tub he dried himself off, pulling on a loose, comfortable pair of dark sweatpants and climbing into bed.

It felt like there was cotton in his ears and sand in his skull as he laid his head against his pillow, feeling a million pounds heavier. He wondered for just a moment as he drug the comforter up and around his chin, what it would be like if the bed swallowed him whole. If he fell down into a dark, fantastical nothingness would he drift forever, or would there be some end to find…

Haze dripped around him, tangible between the folds in his brain and sweet at the back of his tongue. Vlad’s eyelashes pressed together, the world slipping to a small crevice, to a sliver of existence like that of the line that held him and Daniel apart and it was in this half baked fugue that the younger halfa appeared to him.

Daniel stood for a moment at the edge of the bed, looking down at him and at first Vlad thought he was already dreaming.

Lifting the comforter and the sheet Daniel settled into the mattress beside him, the material dipping underneath his weight as he shifted close, too close, close enough to where his arms had to fold against his chest because he was pressed right beside Vlad.

He was shivering.

Tears smeared his chest, small, subdued sobs wracking Daniel’s frame and it was here that Vlad realized this wasn’t a dream because his good arm was under him and he couldn’t wrap Daniel up in a proper embrace.

“Little Badger…” the words ground out of him rough, spoken as if Vlad hadn’t talked in decades and maybe… maybe he hadn’t, not really anyway because those two words felt more real than anything he’d said had felt in such a long time.

Danny flinched, hard and expecting to be reprimanded as he looked up at Vlad. He’d thought he was asleep and really, really he shouldn’t be in here bothering him because he needed to sleep, “I,” what was he trying to say? He didn’t know, he didn’t know where to start. “Vlad…”

Vlad nodded as if he understood, but Danny couldn’t see how that was possible until he spoke, “Room felt wrong?”

Danny blinked, stared up at him with damp eyes and nearly stuck together eyelashes, a mess, “How?”

“Hospital rooms feel wrong, all alone like that,” Vlad said, yawning and letting his eyes close again. Part of his mind told him to marvel at what was happening, to drink it in and understand that this was probably as good as he was ever going to get, but he was too tired. “Not alone here though, little badger.”

Danny shivered again, felt a new, somehow even larger lump form in his throat.

After some time his parents had opted to go home and Sam and Tucker had left as well after he’d told them they should. He hadn’t really wanted them to go, but he also didn’t want to keep them in the house. He felt too guilty for running off in ghost form, for being caught, and tortured, for inconveniencing them with saving him.

Rationally he knew this was foolish. Rationally he understood that they would do anything for him, didn’t feel burdened by him, didn’t blame him, but his mind often wasn’t a rational thing.

The self hatred he still harbored for himself wouldn’t let him accept that people simply cared for him so he assumed that they hated putting in the work that caring for him and his messy ass life entailed.

He’d convinced everyone to leave, to go because he was okay and he was going to crash in his room and everything would be fine, but it hadn’t been.

Danny had gone to his room, gone to take a shower and everything had collapsed over on top of him. He’d reached to grab some shampoo but he’d fumbled and dropped it and it had hit the floor far louder than it had any right too and then he’d been right back on the lab table.

The noise had jolted him, sent him jumping and he’d remembered his mother bringing that silver hammer down to crash into his knuckles, ectoplasm flying everywhere.

He’d crumpled to the shower floor, hands squeezing in his hair, rocking back and forth as he’d tried to tell himself to breathe just breathe and it would be over soon.

He’d expected the water to run cold at some point, for the heater to give up and leave him drenched and shivering from the temperature and not his thoughts, but Vlad’s house was too nice for such mundane inconveniences and Danny had lost track of time under the scalding spray. He’d sat there for who knew how long until he’d managed to gather his shaking legs under him and stumble naked to the bed.

The sheets had itched. The room had felt too big like it wanted to swallow him whole. The electricity running through the walls had sounded too loud, like insects buzzing and burrowing into his ears.

He’d pressed his palms over his face, tried to drown it out, but it hadn’t worked. Everyone had gone home and Danny had thought he’d wanted that, but the empty house had reverberated the sounds towards him and there had been no one there to ground him back in reality. He’d reached for his phone, intent on texting Sam and Tuck to ask them to come back and stay near him, but a voice in his head had told him he would have been even more of a burden if he did that.

How could he send them away then ask for them back? It was an inconvenience to them and made it clear that he didn’t know what he was doing or what he wanted and he didn’t want them to see him like this anyway, right? Why would they want to see him weak and scared and pathetic?

Danny had curled into a ball, had laid underneath the itching sheets in the too loud, too quiet, too big, too suffocating room, until it had felt like he was going to claw his way out of his own skin.

Maybe then he’d get reborn as someone who was a little less of a mess.

A while later he’d found himself in the hall, dressed in sweatpants and dizzy. Some part of him realized he’d put the pants on and stumbled out of his room, but he’d been moving on little more than instinct, his body seeking the comfort his mind could not hope to manufacture.

Vlad’s room had appeared faster than he had expected it too, presenting its dark mahogany doors to him like an oasis and as he made his way to it he’d remembered waking up in Vlad’s lab.

He’d been ripped from dark dreams, from an expansive, pervasive, choking nothing to a world all too bright and burning with pain. He’d drowned in his own blood, had wretched it up on the tile flooring as he’d gasped for air, ectoplasm searing his nostrils and pushing tears from his eyes.

And there Vlad had been. Danny had looked up from the floor, shaken and lost, to find him.

He’d been a mess, deeply injured and covered in gore, but there he’d been and no one, no one in the entire world had ever looked so happy to see him.

Even standing there in the hall, half panicked and exhausted, drunk on fear and pain medication, Danny had felt his heart clench at the memory. Vlad had been happy, more than happy, to see him drag in air and shudder against the lab table, alive. He’d looked at Danny as if he’d been presented a gift, as if his whole world had snapped into place and Danny didn’t understand why but he wanted to.

He’d realized as he stumbled in to Vlad’s room that he wanted to know why the other halfa had looked at him like that, like he wasn’t a burden. Vlad had looked at him like he was an inconvenience plenty of times. Why had this time been different and more importantly, why did Danny believe Vald’s happiness was genuine?

With everyone else he held his doubts. Danny would never admit it to Sam and Tucker, but sometimes Danielle’s words rang in his ears and he wondered if they too wished he hadn’t come back.

Vlad though, Vlad would have told him if he didn’t want Danny around.

Vlad was not the type to sugarcoat things, that’s why it had pissed Danny off when the older man had treated him like a breakable glass doll, it simply wasn’t him. And it was because of that, because of that blunt tendency, because of the understanding they’d reached over the past few months, that even Danny’s anxieties couldn’t convince him that Vlad was lying when he’d looked at him on the lab table, overjoyed.

Vlad had truly wanted him to be okay, had smiled down at him, exhausted and overflowing with warmth.

Why?

Danny didn’t know, but he needed to. He needed answers and he needed to feel safe, and sleep, and be warm, and Vlad’s room offered so many of those things.

So he crawled into bed beside Vlad, pressed their chests together, and let himself cry as Vlad’s familiar scent had curled around him. Over the past few months, living together, sparing, and occasionally even laughing Danny had come to memorize the smell of him, the feel of his core close to his body, his warmth. Now he took great comfort in those things and it felt like maybe he could simply drink them in forever.

Had he been more awake Danny may have let the mortification of that realization push him away, but confused and exhausted, he found himself caring little about it.

Vlad asked him if his room had felt wrong and Danny stared up at him, not understanding how he’d known such a thing, had known that the sheets had itched and the walls had pressed in, but then Vlad had reminded him of his nights in the hospital.

Had Vlad really felt this way for a decade?

Danny couldn’t imagine it. One day of being experimented on, one day of fear, had been more than enough for him. More than enough for several lifetimes.

He opened his mouth to say something, but as he did Danny noticed the line around Vlad’s throat, nearly complete.

He didn’t have much time left.

He froze at the thought, went stock still against Vlad’s form. Why did that bother him so much? After their lines connected he was supposed to leave… he wanted that, so why, why did it feel like it was all happening so fast? Why did it feel like there wasn’t enough time now?

Why didn’t he want their lines to connect?

Lifting his hand Danny reached out and gently touched Vlad’s throat, the pads of his fingers brushing against the centimeter of separation and he hated it. He hated that he not only did he not know what he was going to do with his life once he left, but that he didn’t want to leave at all.

Vlad had been happy he was alive… Vlad had kept looking for him, had saved him and he didn’t deserve that and he didn’t deserve to stay either, but Danny liked the warmth of him and comfort of shared sheets under their bodies.

“Didn’t you see it earlier?” Vlad asked, voice quiet and laced with something Danny couldn’t place but he knew no one had ever, ever spoken to him that way.

Vlad looked down at him, surprised by the gentle touch Daniel offered up, watching an array of emotions flicker through his tear filled, bloodshot eyes. He leaned forward a bit, aching to wrap Daniel up in his arms, frustrated beyond belief that he couldn’t.

“No.” Danny said, startling a bit as Vlad shifted closer to him, seeming to lean in and for a fleeting moment Danny could imagine his arm wrapping around him, but Vlad was missing that arm because Danny had been stupid and gotten himself captured.

“Daniel…”

His name sounded too small in Vlad’s mouth, too meek and part of Danny hated it even while another part of him wished Vlad would say his name like that more often, like it really was something soft, not out of pity, or trying to coddle him, but because it genuinely deserved the care.

“When they finish, would you stay?”

Danny looked up at him, trying to catch the obligation in Vlad’s gaze, but there wasn’t any. Vlad wasn’t asking because he thought he had too or because he didn’t want Danny to get upset and blow up on him, but because he legitimately wanted him to stick around, just as he’d been genuinely happy Danny had woken up.

“Stay.”

Vlad spoke again and this time it wasn’t a question and it sounded just as it had two Christmases ago.

Vlad had sat injured on the sink counter, dizzy and still bleeding as he’d wrapped his arms around Danny and said that word, had told him to stay. At the time Danny wasn’t sure why Vlad had told him not to leave and as another year had gone by he had assumed Vlad was only telling him for his parent’s sake.

Danny had thought Vlad was trying to get him to come back for them… but looking at Vlad now, at the genuine, selfish, but caring look in his eyes Danny wondered if Vlad had wanted him around even then.

He wrapped his arms around Vlad, holding him close.

That incident in the bathroom where Vlad had clung to him felt eons away. It felt as if it had happened to him in another life, in another world, but now he held Vlad to him instead of pushing him away and said a secret he’d been holding close to his heart for years.

“I don’t hate you.”

He didn’t, hadn’t in a long time and on some levels he never truly had. Danny hadn’t known what true hatred was until he’d met Dan and his anger towards Vlad had always paled in comparison.

His hand lifted from the embrace he’d pulled Vlad into, fingers drifting once more over their nearly connected lines and he could feel Vlad swallow thickly against his touch as he said it again, “I don’t.” he shook his head, felt a soft smile pull at his lips as he admitted the truth, “I don’t hate you.”

Dannh hated himself. He had all this time and merely redirected it onto Vlad, especially these last two and half years.

It had been a long day, a long few years, a long life…

“I‘ll stay.”

And then it clicked.

Underneath his fingers Danny felt something akin to electricity spark, felt something wordless and all consuming bubble up in his chest, a pervasive feeling of safety that over the months he’d come to equate with Vlad’s presence wrapping around him snuggly.

He was staying. Not because he felt guilty about hurting his family, not to soothe the grief he’d put them through, not even to complete his and Vlad’s lines, but because he wanted to.

Vlad wanted him to stay, wanted that in a selfish way that deep down had nothing to do with anyone else, and Danny wasn’t any different.

Maybe it was an awful thing to admit but Danny wanted to take up space. He hated to inconvenience everyone, hated that Dani had been right, that the world had moved on and swallowed up the space he’d originally taken up, but he wanted to find a new space where someone wanted him and oddly enough that was right here.

Vlad had told him to make space for himself, to find a new place where he fit and now it felt like he’d found that in the very last place he’d expected too.

Vlad had held a spot open for him.

Danny had always been told he would feel different once his lines completed, that his feelings towards his now fully formed soulmate would deepen drastically or change altogether, but he’d always thought that that was kind of bullshit.

It turned out that it was.

His world didn’t suddenly reform around Vlad. He didn’t put on a pair of rose colored glasses and see the other halfa as a perfect, immaculate person. No, Vlad was still very much Vlad and he was still very much Danny.

Vlad had worked over the years to become better, but he was still the snarky, self absorbed, awkward, dramatic idiot Danny knew him to be and Danny was thankful for that. He’d hated the version of Vlad that had acted too goody two shoes to knock some sense into him because even Danny had to admit, sometimes he needed that.

It would have felt weird if out of nowhere Vlad had become perfect to him, if their lines connecting had made him out to be a hero and admittedly Danny had been scared of that because there were parts of Vlad he didn’t want to change.

So when he looked up and realized that Vlad was still Vlad, still Plasmius, still  
messy like Danny himself was messy, he felt for the first time in a very, very long time, content.

He moved his fingers away revealing the completed line across Vlad’s throat.

They were messy. God they were so, so messy and Danny smiled because he didn’t have to be a perfect hero here in this space. He smiled because of the stupid stunned expression on Vlad’s face, because of the tears of happiness that had replaced his fearful ones, because Maddie the cat had jumped on the bed and was now awkwardly trying to settle on Vlad’s injured arm and he was wincing and Danny was laughing because of course…

Of course this moment would get disturbed, of course it wasn’t perfect because they were far from perfect themselves.

Vlad shifted and sat up, trying to gently set Maddie down, scolding her lightly and Danny could see how red his cheeks were.

They’d been dreading this moment for years and here they were being interrupted by the cat Danny had suggested Vlad get that Vlad had never even really wanted, but loved and spoiled anyway.

And it was mundane.

Danny’s entire life was wild, unhinged, and exhausting, what had happened just hours ago was more than enough proof of that. The fact that Vlad was still missing an arm was proof of that.

But this…

This was normal.

It was outstandingly normal and could be for forever.

Danny looked at Vlad, looked at how flustered he’d gotten, how he was trying to tell his cat that this was important and she needed to sit and his laugh grew until Vlad was staring at him

“Daniel?” Vlad asked and it was always Daniel, never Danny, and he smiled at that, at how consistent and ridiculous it was because why the hell didn’t Vlad call him by his nickname?

“Vladimir.” He answered back, grinning at him before reaching to pet Maddie gently on the head to thank her for making this easily the most normal soul bonding experience he could have asked for.

Vlad fumbled over a few words as if there was something to say because he was like that, because he always had to have something to add.

Danny decided to help him out a bit.

“I’ll stay.” He repeated, this time taking Vlad’s hand and squeezing it before laying down because all things considered he was still incredibly tired and he knew Vlad was too.

They could talk about it in the morning.

Vlad laid down beside him, still looking at him with that dumbfounded expression. Danny had loved putting that expression on Vlad’s face when they were enemies, had enjoyed making the other halfa stumble when he’d messed up his plans or landed a particularly good insult.

It looked pretty good in this situation too.

“We just…” Vlad started, looking as if he was on the edge of a conniption, but Danny hushed him.

“Tomorrow Vlad,” he hummed, turning once more to wrap his arms around the other and he felt safe. The sheets were comfortable, the room was just the right size.

“But Daniel w—”

“Tomorrow, fruitloop, don’t make me say it again,” Danny said, shifting a bit to allow Maddie the cat room because she was still trying to curl against their chests and honestly she deserved that.

He yawned, triggering Vlad to do the same and he smiled, tired and lopsided, murmuring just a few more words before he let his exhaustion finally pull him under.

“I’ll still be here when you wake up, I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Waaah we did it we made it to the end of this section of the story uwu
> 
> And! Their lines connected  
> I know some of y’all thought it would be the torture stuff that connected it but I wanted their lines finishing to be just like... fairly average because I felt like they deserved a moment of normalcy
> 
> I think after all they've been through the promise of a semi normal life would be alluring so yeah, they have a cuddle and a bonding experience and Maddie the cat jumps in to love on her two dads and bam they're connected and it’s just so, so regular
> 
> Sometimes regular is good 😌 
> 
> Oh and sorry for the heavy exposition in the first half of this! I wanted Vlad to actually explain and I need to practice on like explanation heavy dialogue, so this was me attempting that. I hope it was okay! 
> 
> Also! This is not a cliffhanger plz don’t be scared. Danny is still there in the morning and they are gonna talk uwu
> 
> Hope you guys liked, I’m glad I split these chaps up or else it woulda been like 20k words altogether and thats @~@ a monster to write and edit 
> 
> Kudos and comments much appreciated uwu, I love all of them even if I’m horrible at answering back lol. I see them! I’m working on it I’m just a very awkward lady ^^;(\


	14. Constellations to you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if I gave y’all some fluff

The next morning

* * *

When Vlad woke up he was greeted with something he hadn’t known in a very long time, the press of another body against his own.

At some point in the night his arm had regrown and he’d turned over, curling in on his side. Now awake he found Daniel against his back, arm wrapped warmly around his waist.

He really had stayed.

Vlad could remember the disappointment of waking up two Christmases ago to find himself alone, but this time Daniel had meant what he’d said.

His hand lifted, drifting along his throat as the night before came back to himin pieces, his memories hazed by the exhaustion he’d experienced and the pain medication he’d taken. Still, he knew what had happened and he knew that Daniel’s soft laugh and promise to stay in the mansion hadn’t been a dream.

Their lines had connected, out of all the things that had done it it had been as simple as a hug and Daniel admitting that no, he didn’t hate Vlad. It had stunned him, more than he’d been able to articulate at the time. They hadn’t connected over something wild, over pain, or anger, or trauma, or anything regarding their powers and that was strange for them.

So much of what tied them together was the fact that they were both halfa’s. They had both died painful, terrifying deaths. They were both doomed to exist in some capacity forever. That fact had begun their bond, had placed the start of Vlad’s line against Daniel’s neck before he was even born, but it hadn’t finished it.

No, what had finished their lines was quiet comfort, the reassurance that they weren’t alone, completely normal things that seemed far separate from their ghost lives and identities.

Maddie the cat had joined them on the bed and Vlad had gotten flustered. Thinking back on it he was a bit embarrassed by that fact. It wasn’t as if she knew any better.

Daniel had laughed, warm and genuine and Vlad had found himself staring at him, stunned by one singular, incredible fact.

Daniel had looked beautiful.

He was puffy eyed from crying and clearly exhausted, but tangled in the sheets, soft light coming from the moon outside Vlad’s window, laughing, he’d looked somehow simultaneously surreal and average. Vlad had thought to himself that this was something plenty of people got to see, someone they loved existing beside them, laughing at something they’d done.

Vlad had long since given up moments like that, small moments, the ones where love really lived.

Daniel had assured him that they would talk in the morning and now the morning was here. However, Vlad found himself not wanting to discuss it. All he wanted to do was close his eyes and feel Daniel’s chest along his shoulders and spine and rest for as long as his body needed to.

Daniel’s arms tightened around him and his face buried in his neck, “Mm Vlad?” He said and Vlad shifted just a bit and looked back at him only to find that Daniel was still fast asleep.

He stiffened, face heating at the implication. Daniel was dreaming about him.

“Yes, Daniel?” He asked as quietly as he could, remembering that back in college Jack had also talked in his sleep. To he and Maddie’s great amusement and surprise they had discovered that Jack could be prompted into light discussions even while out cold. Vlad wondered if it would work on Daniel as well.

“You’re warm.”

Vlad smiled, turning towards him further, reaching out bravely to run his fingers gently through Daniel’s disheveled hair. It had grown quite long, but he took care of it, the soft strands brushing against his digits, “It’s because of my core.”

To make his point he brought out some of his powers, not enough to trigger Daniel’s ghost sense and potentially wake him, just enough to heat his palm, massaging Daniel’s face gently, rubbing his temple.

“Space heater.”

“Kind of.” He laughed, closing his eyes as Daniel shifted, pulling him even closer.

“Come here.” He demanded and Vlad had to do everything in his power not to laugh louder because he hadn’t exactly pegged Daniel as a cuddler.

“Okay, okay, I’m here.” He scooted closer until they were pressed chest to chest like they had been the night before, Daniel’s face settling against his neck. He shivered, at this angle it almost felt like Daniel was kissing him, lips pressed against his skin.

He’d never really thought about doing that but now that he had it was an image he couldn’t quite shake. Vlad hadn’t kissed anyone in years let alone someone who cared about him in any capacity and sure Daniel hadn’t confessed or anything but last night had made it clear that he at least took some comfort in his presence.

Vlad tried to remind himself of the disgust in Daniel’s voice the day before, how he’d vehemently told Tucker he would never be with him physically, but those words felt like they had been spoken years ago. Logically he knew the pain should still be fresh but so much had happened in such a short period of time. It was disorienting.

Daniel’s body relaxed fully beside him as he sunk back into a deeper sleep, the younger letting out a long sigh that tickled up the side of Vlad’s neck and over his ear making him shiver.

Vlad couldn’t find it in him to follow along. His mind was too full now and he’d let his thoughts string together into full sentences, a terrible error when trying to rest. So instead he just stared at Daniel, or tried to, pressed so close, his face tucked securely into his neck there really wasn’t much to see other than the blur of his line around Daniel’s throat that he couldn’t bring into focus due to the proximity.

His hand, new and still a bit tender skated up and down Daniel’s side, touching him gently because Vlad hadn’t touched anyone in a long time and it was nice to.

He hugged people, quite often really. He hugged Jack and Maddie and Danielle fairly regularly. But that was far, far from this. That was nothing like the press of his chest to Daniel’s own, the feeling of their heartbeats falling into a synchronized pattern.

Vlad tried to memorize it, wanting to hold on to the feeling of someone wanting him near them if only in sleep because he wasn’t sure what happened next. Daniel didn’t hate him but that didn’t make them lovers. That didn’t mean he would sleep in Vlad’s room or hold him beyond this morning.

A sinking feeling formed in his chest and stomach, a hollowed out sensation that he knew well.

How was he supposed to tell Daniel he’d fallen in love with him?

How was he supposed to form his feelings into words when they had snuck up on him disguised as other emotions until suddenly Jack had smacked him over the head with them and Vlad had realized he’d been falling for a long time?

They disoriented him, like being dropped into a bath of ice water he hadn’t realized he was perched delicately above. He wanted to address them, but he also understood that they weren’t reciprocated and that knowledge was enough for Vlad to convince himself that maybe this was enough, maybe Daniel staying was all he needed and he didn’t have to be selfish about it. He didn’t have to want more.

Vlad had grown accustomed to wanting less, to being okay with that. It had been a bitter pill to swallow and a hard lesson to learn, but he could do it again.

Slowly Daniel stirred for real, coming awake with a long stretch and a yawn that Vlad was surprised didn’t crack his jaw. He pulled back from Vlad, hair an absolute mess as he rubbed at his eyes and Vlad wanted to follow him as he turned onto his back, but he didn’t, at least not until Daniel was grabbing at him blindly and tucking him under his arm and against his chest like he was stuffed toy.

Vlad floundered at the motion, Daniel yawning again and kicking off the blanket and sheets before his hand found his silver hair and he ran his fingers through it.

“How long have you been awake?” He asked and Vlad shifted to look at him questioningly. “I could practically feel you staring at me.”

Vlad felt his face heat up. Of course Daniel’s senses of perception were sharper even in human form and apparently even while asleep, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He lied and Daniel laughed in the same way he had the night before, in that warm and achingly soft manner that made Vlad feel like his insides had been tossed under a whisk and turned into meringue.

“Mhm.” Daniel said, tone teasing and his hand was still in Vlad’s hair and he wanted to stiffen up and relax all at once and biscuits! Why was he suddenly a teen with a crush? This was ridiculous!

He was going to strangle Jack.

He was seriously, honest to god, going to strangle Jack because that stupid man had made him see this and now he couldn’t go back!

Vlad sat up, pulling away from their embrace because feeling vulnerable wasn’t something he was used to and it felt incredibly foreign. A hand grabbed his wrist and he looked down at the touch for a moment before looking back at Daniel and at the line, his line, now secure and whole against his throat.

“Your arm is back.” Daniel said almost too quiet and if Vlad was naive enough he might have thought Daniel had meant to say something else. The younger turned his arm over in his hand, looking at it and the mess of ripped gauze that Vlad must have torn away in his sleep once it was no longer needed. “How do you feel?”

An excellent question.

Vlad felt a lot of things. Too many things. He wanted to land on one emotion, preferably one he was used to but his stomach didn’t want to settle and he felt dizzy and why was Daniel being so handsy with him!?

“Fine.” He said, frustrated by how he was acting like a blushing idiot, slipping his hand away and moving to get off the bed only to be stopped again, this time by Daniel’s words instead of his touch.

“I don’t like when you say that.” He said it quickly, and as Vlad looked back at him he was surprised to find Daniel looking pointedly away from him as if he hadn’t meant to say it at all, as if the words had slipped out in a moment of unplanned honesty.

“What?” Perhaps not the most eloquent response, but it did capture his confusion.

“I just…” Daniel frowned, gaze never leaving the window he’d turned it too even as Vlad saw a blush stain his cheeks, bringing out the light freckles there and he’d never really noticed those and now he found himself wondering why because they were so… “Usually when you say fine like that you really mean ‘I’m thinking about something else’ and you don’t want to admit it”

To be so blatantly looked at and seen stunned Vlad and for one long and excruciatingly heavy breath Vlad didn’t know what to say because how could he? Did that mean Daniel had known he hadn’t been happy the night before when he’d sent him to his room, telling him he had Samantha and Tucker there to support him instead, an emotion Vlad could now identify as jealousy welling up inside him as he’d slunk to the master bedroom?

Did that mean Daniel had known he’d been upset about how blunt he’d framed their bonds connecting when he’d proposed they allow themselves to become full soulmates at Jasmine’s wedding?

Anger coiled in Vlad’s gut at the notion, “I’m going to take a shower.” He said, not in the mood to continue what was barely a conversation.

“Me too.” Daniel said and for a second Vlad felt a twist in his gut at the idea of Daniel meaning that in the sense that he was going to take a shower with him, but then Daniel was up and leaving room as if nothing had happened, as if nothing was different between them despite their lines connecting, the cuddling, and Daniel revealing that he saw more of Vlad than Vlad had ever considered the younger halfa could see.

* * *

  
Outside of Vlad’s room Danny drug in a deep breath.

What the fuck had that been!?

Sure he had noticed Vlad’s tone whenever he said he was fine before and he had connected the dots to conclude that when Vlad said he was fine he didn’t ever mean it, but to call him out on that? Now? After their lines had connected! What the hell was he thinking?

He wasn’t thinking.

That was the thing. He wasn’t thinking! He’d hardly been thinking when he’d crawled into Vlad’s bed the night before and he certainly hadn’t been thinking when he’d tugged Vlad close to him that morning, but he’d just been so warm and comfy and their lines connecting had just been so —

Danny shook his head. He wasn’t in the mood to fall down that rabbit hole. They would talk about it later when they were both a little more awake.

Thankfully his shower went better than it had the night before and he was able to wash himself without falling into any spiraling thoughts or fears.

He decided to relax, to sit against the shower seat and close his eyes for a long while, hand drifting along his throat as if he could feel Vlad’s line there and he almost could. It was like a phantom pressure, a knowledge settled with an oddly comfortable weight against his skin, snug and at peace against his voice box.

Danny wasn’t quite sure how to feel about how nice it felt, but he did know that he was glad he was making a new space for himself in the world and that space was here in the mansion. He wasn’t sure what all that entailed yet, but after the guilt he’d come to feel about returning after everyone was used to him being gone it was nice to know that Vlad welcomed him.

That thought, the thought of Vlad’s smile, the way he looked at Danny and how he hadn’t pulled away from his embrace, both the night before and that morning, made his core seem to shiver in his chest.

Danny pressed his hand gently over his heart as he stepped out of the shower, seeking out the thrum of his core hidden beneath it. He thought about Vlad trying to hug him fully the night before, when he was still injured and tired and he felt that shiver run through him again, coiling around his core and confirming that it hadn’t been a coincidence.

He moved to grab a towel, gently drying himself off before stepping up to the mirror, lifting his leg up so he could climb gingerly onto the counter, sitting beside the sink and getting a full look at himself.

He tilted his head, stretching his neck to catch the gleam of Vlad’s initials scrawled in the elder halfa’s messy, pompous handwriting against the full black choker. It was written in the color of Vlad’s ectoplasm, a bright almost demanding pink that confirmed beyond any shadow of a doubt who his soulmate was.

Soulmate.

That was an odd word to think about now that it was true, now that they had fully bonded. He’d thought about Vlad and that word in tandem several times before, it’d been impossible not to when he’d first learned his arch nemesis was his potential match, but now it felt different. At first and for many years those words had sat sour on his tongue, not meant to mix. But now that they had Danny found himself relaxing into the idea.

He looked down at his hands, gently threading his fingers together, Tucker’s words from the day before coming back to him as he did. Maybe he was right, maybe Danny was more relaxed than he had been in a long time, he certainly felt that way. Well, he felt that way once he pushed aside his embarrassment. Beyond his clumsy attempts at conversation with Vlad a little while ago things had been nice. The night before, bonding and laughing, the morning where Vlad had felt so warm beside him, all of that had been relaxing.

Maybe it wouldn’t be awful if Tucker had been right, if he and Vlad were… Danny’s face heated and he was quick to separate his hands.

They hadn’t even talked yet, he shouldn’t be thinking about those things! Not that he wanted to, he was just… he was pent up, that was it. He hadn’t spared in a while, he hadn’t gotten to the day before. He was used to getting in the ring with Vlad and going for a few rounds at the end of the day, but that had been off the table what with him well, on the table, pried open and —

Danny buried his face in his hands. Why did his mind want to drift in all the wrong directions? It was either picturing Vlad and his stupid smile, or wishing they were sparing, or the torture and he didn’t want to think about any of that.

His stomach growled and food, that’s what he really wanted, not all these thoughts jumbling themselves up in his head and against his core.

Danny hopped off the bathroom counter, walking over to the closet and pulling out a pair of jeans and a decent shirt. He’d been wandering around in sweatpants and wrinkled shirts a bit too often and it didn’t hurt to look somewhat put together every now and then.

Padding down the stairs Danny was surprised to hear piano music playing through the halls. Well, he wasn’t surprised to hear it per say, the music was quite normal in the mansion what with Vlad practicing regularly. But he was surprised to hear it already because that meant that Vlad had finished his shower and already eaten.

How long had Danny taken in the bathroom? Had he really been staring at himself for long enough for Vlad to go through his stupid, fancy pants routine?

In the kitchen a muffin was set on the table underneath one of those little fancy pastry containers so Maddie the cat couldn’t eat it. Danny felt an air of domesticity settle around him at the sight. It wasn’t an elaborate breakfast, but that was the point. Vlad knew that Danny preferred to eat lightly in the morning. After years of rushing out the door to get to school his body had come to dislike heavy breakfasts, food often turning his stomach sour in the hours after he woke up.

The fact that Vlad knew that and hadn’t moved to make him something more substantial, to put him in a place of discomfort, was warming.

Danny opened the fridge and poured himself a glass of orange juice, settling down at the kitchen island’s counter to eat and it was here that he found himself in one of those rare moments of quiet peace where things just felt like they’d fallen into place. The music drifted through the air, the sunlight came in through the window, catching small dust motes. He let out a soft sigh, sinking into the seconds that drifted by lackadaisically as if they had nothing better to do and he found himself glad that he had stayed.

He had felt out of place at the wedding, felt that he didn’t deserve to exist in a world he’d left behind, yet somehow this moment felt made for him, like he was supposed to have it. He closed his eyes and soaked it in, letting his mind quiet for a moment.

After a few minutes in which Vlad changed his song twice Danny moved, carefully folding up his muffin’s wrapper and tossing it in a nearby garbage bin before rinsing out his glass in the sink. Normally at this point he’d go do his morning exercise routine while Vlad finished up his practice and went to work, but something told him Vlad would forgo his typical duties for the day and Danny found himself not quite in the mood to work out despite feeling a bit pent up. So instead he made his way to the piano room.

Vlad, being as pompous and needlessly extra as he was did in fact have an entire room dedicated to his piano in his mansion. Back years ago when Danny had originally found it while snooping around he had thought it was ridiculous, but leaning against the entryway, watching as Vlad played he found it to be incredibly fitting. He looked good, sitting there in complete concentration, nothing around him other than a few customary pieces of seating to distract from his image and —

Woah, woah there Fenton, Vlad did not look good, or even attractive with his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, suit jacket draped over the side of his chair, eyebrows pressing together as he focu—

Ancients end him what the fuck was he thinking?

“Daniel?”

Danny snapped back to himself, a small, “Huh?” escaping him with a blink. How long had it been since Vlad had stopped playing? How long had he even been watching. The past few minutes had seemed to have passed in a blur.

He caught a glimpse of how Vlad was looking at him, with a teasing tilt to his mouth, and quickly glanced away.

Not wanting for an awkward silence to form in the confusing space between how he had stared and how Vlad hadn’t told him to stop, Danny coughed lightly before asking, “Why do you practice so much anyway?”

Vlad kept looking at him for a short moment before turning back to the keys, “I decided to learn late in life, so it’s important to be consistent about it.”

Danny nodded, remembering their conversation after he’d woken up from passing out and hitting his head on his own gravestone. Vlad had told him then that the piano took years to master, but being immortal he had decided he had all the time in the world to learn.

“Do you like it?” Danny asked, stepping forward until taking a small leap of faith, he sat down at the piano beside Vlad. “You always say it’s just important to practice, never that you actually like it.”

Vlad seemed to tense beside him momentarily before slowly softening at his statement. “It’s calming.”

“That doesn’t mean you like it.” Danny said, almost smiling, the hint of it present in his voice, part of him wanting to hear Vlad say he genuinely enjoyed something other than football and his cat.

Vlad placed his hands against the keys, working through a scale while Danny watched in a sort of awe. He had never played an instrument before and people who did had always seemed to possess some sort of magic that he simply didn’t have. “Yes, I enjoy it. Quite a bit, actually.”

“What were you playing when I came in?” Danny asked, finding himself curious as to what Vlad was interested in. He had found that one could learn a lot about a person from what music they enjoyed.

Vlad paused for a moment, fingers falling silent against the keys to reach out for the sheet music in front of him, closing it to reveal a glossy cover.

“The soundtrack to Pride and Prejudice?” Danny asked, looking at Vlad with a questioning expression, “Isn’t that a bit too mushy for you?”

It was a bit odd to think about Vlad, Plasmius, sitting down to watch a historical romance.

“Do you even know what the book is about, Daniel?” Vlad asked in that way that Danny knew meant he was trying to get a rise out of him. In the past that rise had been meant to be an angry one on the battlefield, but lately in the sparring ring it had morphed into a friendly challenge and this was one Danny could rise to.

“Of course I know what it’s about. I had to read it in high school. It’s about a girl who ends up soulbonding with a pompous, prideful rich boy.”

“Elizabeth was prideful too,” Vlad laughed, Danny shocked by how genuine the sound was, “That was the point, that they were more alike than either of them wanted to admit for a long time.”

Danny felt his face turn a deep, scalding red as he realized something.

He and Vlad were more alike than either of them could outwardly admit.

“D-Do you think you could teach me a bit? I mean, you said it, we have all the time in the world, what with not being able to die.” He said, trying to move the conversation somewhere else because he wasn’t quite ready to delve into the idea he’d just stumbled into.

“I’d like that.” Vlad hummed and the fact that he had said he would enjoy it without his usual hesitation behind discussing things he liked made Danny’s cheeks burn all the more.

“Here.” Vlad took Danny’s hand and placed it near the center of the keys, the contact making Danny tense as Vlad guided him into pressing down, one lone note filling the air. “This is middle C, it’s a good starting point.” Vlad began and Danny tried to follow along as he directed him through a scale, but his mind was buzzing.

The way they were touching now was so soft and it wasn’t something he was used to. They had been pressed so close in the bed, but this was somehow different from even that sort of intimacy. They weren’t tired or swept up in the emotions of completing their bonds, no, now Vlad was simply volunteering to touch him, guiding his hands and talking about god knew what because Danny didn’t actually know anything about pianos but he sounded so content and sure that Danny couldn’t tear his eyes away from him.

“Are you paying attention, little badger?” Vlad laughed a little while later, causing Danny to stutter for a second.

“What? Yes, of course, I mean, yeah, I’m concentrating. What makes you think I’m not?” Fuck Danny really hoped Vlad wouldn’t answer that question.

“How about you play the notes I just showed you then?”

Danny looked down at his hand and breathed out a slow breath. Why the hell was he so nervous? It was just playing the piano, it couldn’t be that hard right? At least, a few notes couldn’t be that hard anyway.

Slowly and shakily he managed to copy the movements Vlad had shown him, surprised by how much he’d managed to retain despite his distraction.

Vlad smiled, “Not half bad,” he hummed, taking Danny’s hand and moving it down to the lower side of the piano, “Now do you think you can do those same notes here and repeat them as I play?”

“As you play?” Danny asked, feeling his nerves jump to the back of his throat again.

“Mhm.” Vlad nodded as if it were obvious, lifting his hands to start a song, glancing over to him, “You can start now.”

Danny stared down at the keys, not understanding why it felt as if Vlad had thrown him to the wolves because there was no one around to hear his shaky playing, no one to impress but — Danny took a quick glance at Vlad who looked incredibly confident, fingers moving across the ivories with a practiced ease. Did he really think Danny could play with him? He knew like six notes tops and only in the order Vlad had shown him.

Vlad’s thigh bumped lightly against his, “Don't think too hard about it, Daniel.” He said, his tone teasing, but in a soft well meaning well that Danny was starting to grow accustomed to from him.

He took a deep breath and began.

It was clumsy at first, but then his ears caught the rhythm of Vlad’s music and he found himself moving in time without really knowing how he was doing it. He played out one set of notes and then another, going along with the pace and to his surprise it sounded good.

It wasn’t a high class concert anything like that, but it was good and he was playing and so was Vlad and Danny found himself smiling as they continued, his nerves falling away as the song continued, Vlad’s notes becoming more complex while Danny’s kept time on the lower scale. By the end of it he was beaming.

“We did it!” Danny was overwhelmed by the feeling of it. If he had known that playing music would feel like this he would have picked it up ages ago, “Did you see that, we did it!”

“That we did, badger,” Vlad smiled back, leaning over to bump their shoulders, the contact making Danny’s skin burn, his body focusing in on the touch, so much so that he didn’t realize he had let the conversation lapse for too long, Vlad chuckling as he spaced out for a moment before remarking, “You know you stick your tongue out when you’re concentrating.”

Taken aback by the comment Danny struggled to gain his bearings. Fuck had Vlad really thrown him with such a simple tease, he had to get his head in the banter game. “I do not!”

Great, excellent comeback Fenton.

Maybe he… maybe he really was someone in a cheesy romance novel falling for the pompous yet awkward know it all because hell if the mischievous grin Vlad tossed his way didn’t make his stomach flip.

“Yes you do, you have since you were fourteen.”

“Oh you were looking at my tongue when I was fourteen. Talk about being a creep. I wonder what you were thinking about while you stared, Vladie.”

There you go Fenton that was better, closer to their normal banter.

Vlad scowled, face going red, “I was doing no such thing, Daniel.”

Danny laughed at his tone, at the way his voice shifted to become prude as a way of overcompensating, something that Vlad had done for as long as Danny had known him.

“You know you’ve always been awfully easy to tease.” He said between the laugh that was still building in his chest as he turned to straddle the piano bench, now facing Vlad properly.

“Have not.” Vlad practically pouted before deflating with a good natured sigh and giving in to Danny’s words, “Okay maybe a little, but that doesn’t mean you’ve won this argument.”

“Oh I didn’t know we were arguing, Plasmius.” Danny hummed, laugh falling away to a deeper tone even he hadn’t quite expected as he leaned closer to Vlad, intending for the motion to be teasing but for some reason it felt charged and different and nice, so nice that Danny didn’t want to bother with questioning it because Vlad picked it up too and had turned in his seat to face him.

“We just might be, Phantom.” He said, quieter now and for a moment they simply looked at each other, close enough to touch, but neither of them brave or sure enough to lean in further and as Danny began to picture what this must look like, what they were almost doing he found himself shocked to realize he didn’t dislike the idea of closing the gap.

He pulled back with a small gasp, shaking his head and breaking off whatever the fuck had just happened.

Vlad pulled back too, although his expression betrayed a little less emotion and if Danny were to guess Vlad would have said he was fine if Danny were to ask if he was okay.

Danny frowned, what he had said that morning had been true. He didn’t like when Vlad said he was ‘fine’ he didn’t like the tone and he didn’t like Vlad lying to him, or sugarcoating things, but right now he wasn’t ready to get into a conversation like that. The awkward half discussion earlier had been a disaster and they hadn’t even talked about their lines yet. He wasn’t about to ask why Vlad looked so masked after he’d pulled away from him.

After a few long and agonizing seconds Vlad spoke, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck until Danny heard a pop that made him wince in sympathetic phantom pain, “You know I was thinking that now that our lines have completed we should do something to celebrate.”

“Oh!” Danny certainly hadn’t been expecting that sort of proposal. Sure most people went out and celebrated upon the completion of their soulbonds, but his with Vlad had been something he’d dreaded for so long, to celebrate it felt a bit weird, “What did you have in mind..?”

At least Vlad looked as awkward as he felt.

“There’s a spot in the Ghost Zone I found I thought you might like.”

Danny perked up at the suggestion. Admittedly going somewhere in public with Vlad for the purpose of celebrating their lines didn’t sound very enjoyable, but exploring the ghost zone was always interesting and Danny had to wonder what Vlad thought he’d find interesting. “That sounds… fun.” Was that the right word? Fun? It sounded so normal. “Did you want to go now?”

Vlad moved from the bench, “I figured we’d go today, yes. Meet me by the portal in five minutes?”

Danny nodded and Vlad phased through the floor just like that, leaving Danny to spin out in his thoughts.

He stared down at his hands, eyes wide but unseeing as he played back the previous minutes in his mind, the way Vlad had held his hand as he showed him the notes, the way his fingers had shook with nerves as they’d played together before he’d gained confidence.

It had been nice, Danny couldn’t even deny that. It had been nice and Danny wanted to do it again. He wanted to sit and listen as Vlad played or have him show him some more and that thought alone was enough to make his throat dry.

He couldn’t keep thinking about it, if he did it was going to drive him up a wall, so instead he simply transformed, phasing down into the lab where Vlad was opening up his portal. He had already shifted into Plasmius and Danny realized that he hadn’t seen Vlad as his ghost self out of the sparring ring in a long time.

He had his cape on and everything. He looked just as menacing as he ever had, red eyes flicking over the mechanism he was fiddling with to unlock his entrance to the GZ. And yet Danny just couldn’t see him that way anymore.

Sure Plasmius was dangerous, but he wasn’t actively evil.

Danny caught a sliver of light glinting off his fangs and shivered before cursing himself inwardly because fuck, did seeing Vlad’s fangs just make his stomach do a backflip? What the hell?

Maybe he was just thinking all of these stupid things this morning because their lines had connected. All his health classes had said he’d feel different once it happened, but last night he’d thought that was bullshit because Vlad was still Vlad to him, a nicer, warmer version of Vlad, but still Vlad. And… and that was true now, but it was also very confusing.

Maybe he’d just been too high on pain medication to feel their connection right. Having been ripped open he’d been on some pretty strong stuff, Vlad’s halfa healing agent included.

Was liking how Vlad was smiling at him a symptom of them bonding or did Danny actually kind of like it?

Did the answer make a difference?

Danny dewelled on the question as they stepped through the portal floating out into the Ghost Zone together.

Together.

They were in the Ghost Zone together and they weren’t fighting, that was something completely bizarre. What would the other ghosts say if they saw them?

Vlad’s hand had reached out to him in his distraction, making him flinch hard as a deeper part of himself told him Plasmius was about to touch him, something that had for so many years spelled danger and pain.

“What are y—!”

Vlad’s eyes widened before darting away, hand dropping and Danny cut himself off from his panicked hiss, a feeling of guilt flooding over him as Vlad spoke, too soft, “Sorry.”

“No it’s,” It’s what? What was he supposed to say? How was he supposed to admit that Plasmius touching him so suddenly had frightened him. Vlad should have already known that, probably did. “What were you doing?”

“I,” Vlad flushed and it was such an odd thing to see a blush bloom pink across Plasmius’ blue skin. “I saw your line and I, I didn’t mean to reach out, sorry.”

Danny’s gaze swept over Vlad feeling like an idiot as he saw green near Vlad’s collar. His cape had hidden it while they’d stood beside one another but there was Danny’s soul line, clear as day around Vlad’s throat.

Now that the lines were completed they would appear even in ghost form and the color of Danny’s bright green ectoplasm burned its way across Vlad’s skin in a bright flash of color.

Danny knew without looking that Vlad’s line across him would be Vlad’s neon, all consuming, possessive pink, the thought of it making him shiver again like he had when he’d seen Vlad’s fangs.

“The pink looks nice on you.” Vlad said, quiet again but not too soft in the way his apology had been.

Danny felt his face warm considerably and he reached out, brushing his fingers along Vald’s neck, touching the line there like he had the night before, “This is what you wanted to do wasn’t it? Touch it. You can, just warn me next time.”

Vlad barely managed a nod, searching Danny’s gaze in a manner that made Danny nervous in new and concerning ways. “Now?”

“If you want.”

Fingers brushed against his neck gently a few moments later, the pair turning to each other to look at their lines, at their bond. Vlad’s fingers against his skin, burning to the touch and heated against his own icy complexion had Danny suppressing trembles.

“I’m glad your suit doesn’t cover it.” Vlad said a few moments later and all Danny could do was nod and say.

“I’m glad your suit doesn’t cover yours too,” and as he thought about it Danny found that he really did mean that. If any other ghosts did see them today he wanted them to know, they would find out eventually given he and Vlad’s immortality, but an odd possessiveness crocheted it’s way between his ribs as he looked at the green around Vlad’s collar. He wanted them to know Plasmius was his.

He pulled away. His? Plasmius? He had gotten a bit too caught up in the moment.

Having abruptly ended the situation they’d found themselves in Danny looked around the realm before them, “So which way to that place you were talking about?

Vlad turned away from him and flew off and as Danny followed behind him he noticed the expression the elder halfa wore was the mask he referred to as ‘fine’.

* * *

  
The Ghost Zone flew by around them, outcroppings of rocky terrains, doors, and territories. They flew past Skulker’s island Ghost Writer’s library, and Piriah’s old keep all without incident as they went deeper into the Zone than Danny had been in a long time.

Vlad didn’t talk, but every now and then their fingers would brush as they came up beside one another and his digits would curl just slightly as if he was holding back from taking Danny’s hand.

They continued onward, passed a few unsavory looking spaces and even the Far Frozen until finally, just before Danny was about to ask if they were there yet, something came into view.

On the edge of the horizon what seemed to be and must have been a painting revealed itself to them. Danny paused to take it in, take in the realm beyond them that was all at once the golden hour and the dead of night, time and space layered in on itself to create a perfect recreation of sunset under a crystal clear night sky.

They drew closer still, close enough to become part of the image, the dream, itself.

“What is this?” He asked, wonder seeping through his syllables as he took it in, the expanse of stars stretching on and on into the infinite, glowing balls of light pressed so tightly together that he appeared a god, able to cross parsecs with a single movement.

“I’ve never come across an official name for it, but I call it the fun sized Milky Way.” Vlad said, “You know, because Milky Way candy bars come in a ‘fun size’.” He explained awkwardly before floating deeper into the space, under the stars and drenched in what must have been an eternal evening.

“Anyway, this place is a scale replica of the night sky and of the Milky Way galaxy. I don’t know why it’s here.” Who knew why anything was in the Ghost Zone? “But it’s nice and—” he reached out, “Can I take your hands?”

Danny nodded, surprised that Vlad had remembered to ask and then made an actual effort to do so. That couldn’t be their bond alone. He couldn’t imagine something as out there as Vlad respecting boundaries, even he wasn’t that creative.

Vlad took both of Danny’s hands in his own, floating up and through the twilight around them. For a moment Danny didn’t follow, watching as Vlad lifted above him, arms raising as Plasmius drifted into the stars above, a smile on his face and in that instant Danny couldn’t deny that he was beautiful.

He followed slowly, the stars moving around them, colliding gently with their forms to drift out of alignment and create new constellations elsewhere, ones no one but them would ever see.

“They rearrange themselves after a while,” Vlad hummed as he swept up a few stars in his hands, the soft glowing baubles drifting through his fingertips, “If we left and came back they’d be right back where they started.”

Carefully he tipped a few stars into Danny’s hands and he stared at them, eyes wide, filled with the glow of them, with red giants and blue dwarfs and everything in between.

“This is incredible Vlad…” he said, whispered it out to the space between him because in all of his dreams of space he’d never once pictured something so astounding.

He turned round, hand out as if he were in a pool of water, sending stars rippling and scattering away in a mesmerizing cascade. The space, the universe, around him stretched out, welcoming in a way that made him feel simultaneously minuscule and expansive.

How had he never found this place before? It was as if it were made for him and he had Vlad to thank for showing him, for taking him here and knowing that he would love it and he did… he did love it…

Vlad’s hands found his again, shy at first, but bolder once Danny squeezed their fingers together and then they were dancing.

It wasn’t like the dance they shared at the wedding. They couldn’t be farther apart.

They were stretched out, loose, spinning and flying, orbiting one another as they sent stars and planets and black holes and asteroids spiraling to new galaxies.

They’re hands would fall apart, they’d twist and turn, duck under one another in their flight, only to rejoin briefly in passing touches that meant far more than sustained contact ever could.

There was moon dust and comet tails in Danny’s hair, event horizons and nebulas beneath Vlad’s cape and they were smiling.

In the starlight and creation they were smiling and Danny loved it.

Loved Vlad.

Deep down, in parts of himself he’d long since buried and tossed away the key for, he knew he’d felt this way, or at least on the precipice of it, for a while now. Ever since he’d met Vlad there had been a small part of him that had hoped they could get along. When he’d first found out he was another halfa that part, that hope had been bigger. Sure, he was a little messed up but he could come around right? But as time had gone on that part of him had dwindled.

It had rekindled a bit at certain points, there’d been signs of what could have been, even in the darkest of timelines. Even stripped of everything in the wake of Dan’s destruction future Vlad had chosen to help instead of hurt and there’d been times when Danny had seen that side of him shine through in other ways. Vlad’s talk with him on the balcony during his surprise birthday party, the way he’d taken him home to fix him up after he’d been hit by lightning even though Danny had hated it at the time. How he’d tried to give Danny space after discovering their connection when he could have taken advantage of it. How he’d taken to sparing with him over the past few months.

There were moments, times, and instances of great warmth in Vlad and Danny wanted to know them.

Wanted to know him.

Danny stopped flying forward, halted somewhere in the galaxy where purples and blues and reds surrounded them in swirling arms. He spun around Vlad and one of his hands took the other halfa’s own, his other hand rising to cup his cheek gently.

Vlad blinked, looking shocked as Danny smiled with an ease he’d never quite felt. However instead of melting into the touch like Danny had wanted and honestly expected he frowned, looking away and Danny knew that if he asked how Vlad was feeling he would have told Danny he was fine.

“Why do you look like that?” He asked, doubt curling in his stomach as Vlad lifted his hand to pull Danny’s own away from his face. Maybe he was presuming too much, maybe Vlad didn’t want Danny to like him. Sure Danny was pretty sure Vlad didn’t necessarily love him yet, but considering all that had happened the night before and today he’d thought some inclinations towards the emotion might be there. Maybe he was moving too fast?

He’d taken their talk at the piano, the energy as they’d sat together, and this excursion as a few good signs but maybe he was reading between the lines too much. Maybe he’d jumped the gun.

“It’s nothing.” Vlad whispered and he sounded so hurt Danny couldn’t wrap his mind around it because what had he done?

“It’s not, you’re making your I’m fine face. Remember what I said this morning, I don’t like that.”

Vlad turned his face away further, scowling “Well it doesn’t matter what you like.”

His tone was biting and had Danny been a weaker person, the person he’d been not even that long ago really, he would have let it anger him. But now he didn’t. Instead he simply pressed again, voice soft and understanding, “Please tell me Vlad.”

He wanted to say more than that, wanted to tell Vlad that he cared what the answer was, that he didn’t want Vlad to look like he did in a place like this after the time they’d shared together in the stars and even before that, but he didn’t think he was brave enough to and there was something in that truth that hurt him.

He’d never been good at saying the things he needed to say. He hadn’t said goodbye to his friends, had hardly even talked to Dani over the last few months, and he wasn’t sure where to begin with his parents. But maybe now he had time and he wanted to try.

Danny wanted to try saying what had to be said, to try reaching out when it mattered and looking at Vlad he decided that that pursuit started here with the one person who would always know him better than anyone else.

“You know how a few months ago I got really upset that you were sugarcoating things for me because you thought I’d blow up and run off again?”

Vlad nodded and for a split second it seemed as if he wanted to ask Danny what that had to do with now, but decided against it. Danny was glad for the small gesture of faith hidden in the action.

“I like how you’re honest with me, even if I won’t like the answer.”

Vlad looked back at him briefly before letting out a slow sigh, “I don’t want you to touch me like that.”

“Oh.” The admittance hurt Danny, but he had known that was one of the risks so he couldn’t be mad at Vlad, although part of him wanted to be. He had just started to grasp his feelings and now Vlad was saying that he didn’t want to bother with them. He’d known that, for the most part anyway. The last few hours had muddied that information a bit, but now Vlad was bringing it back to the forefront. Their bond was one of show only, there wasn’t any substance to it. “I won’t then.”

Despite saying this he couldn’t find the strength to let go of Vlad’s hand and oddly enough Vlad didn’t let go either.

That alone was enough to confuse Danny so to say that catching a glimpse of translucent pink gathering at the edges of Vlad’s eyes made his mind implode was an understatement. He’d never seen Vlad get this upset at something and Danny wasn’t even sure what he was so upset about. Vlad wiped his face messily and Danny looked away because this wasn’t something he was supposed to see.

“We should go.” Vlad said, frustration seeping through his voice.

“No.” Danny said, knowing in some terrified part of himself that if they didn’t talk about it now they wouldn’t. They should have talked about it this morning, should have talked about it long before then.

“Daniel please c—”

“Why don’t you want me to touch you like that?” Danny asked, cutting Vlad off and silently wincing at the phrasing because it sounded a bit too sexual for his liking and they were definitely not to that conversation.

“I just don’t.”

“Vladimir.”

Vlad grit his teeth and Danny saw a hint of his fangs, bared in warning, “Daniel you cannot just call me my whole name like I’m some sullen teenager and expect me to answer.”

“Vlad please I—” Danny took a deep breath and psyched himself up because holy shit he’d never expected to say something like this and it was more nerve wracking than saving the world which was wild. “I want to touch you like that.”

“What?” Red eyes widened, looking at Danny and searching for something and Danny felt hope fill his chest because he thought he could see what Vlad was looking for in his expression.

“I do so could you please just tell me?”

Those red eyes left him just as soon as they’d come, Vlad quick to glance away, his shoulders sagging a bit, “I don’t want you to because it makes me too hopeful that you mean it.” He admitted, Danny straining his ears to catch the words, “But you said us completing our lines was just to get it out of the way. It doesn’t mean anything, so it… I don’t like it when you pretend.”

Danny felt like someone had taken their hand and clenched it around his heart before trying to forcefully yank it up his throat. “We should have… we really should have talked about our lines more, huh?”

Vlad managed to laugh a bit at that and Danny was thankful for the sound, relaxing a bit and folding his legs up under him so he could sit in the suspended space.

“Maybe.” Vlad admitted, following his lead and sitting.

Danny gently removed the hand that Vlad had grabbed from his grasp, placing it back slowly on Vlad’s cheek, watching his expression to make sure it was okay and when Vlad closed his eyes and leaned into it a bit he smiled. “I’ve been an asshole haven’t I?”

“A bit of one, yes.”

“I’m sorry.” Danny said and it was long overdue, “I’m sorry I left. I didn’t tell anyone, and that includes you and we didn’t really get along then… but maybe I should have talked to you before I did the whole murdering myself stunt.”

“It was very dramatic.” Vlad hummed and Danny found that between the space of their words they had scooted closer together, much the way they had earlier on the piano bench.

“Okay you don’t get to say anything about being dramatic, Plasmius.” He laughed, letting the sound and feeling of it warm him from the tips of his fingers to the soles of his feet. “But, you’re right. It was a lot. And I’m sorry for it, and for beating your brains out, and disappearing again, and coming back to tell you we were going to get our lines out of the way without taking into account your opinion on it.”

“Thank you, Daniel.” Vlad said, leaning in further and this time Danny didn’t want to pull back, shifting forward to meet him halfway and maybe it wasn’t what Vlad had intended when he’d scooted in, but Danny was glad he took the chance.

Their lips met gently, shy at first but then deeper and Danny sighed into it, feeling as if he’d finally come home after being away for far too long. Vlad’s fingers found his hair, tangling in the strands and pulling him closer as they melted against each other. It was soft and slow and everything Danny knew their first kiss should be.

They kissed until they needed to pull back for air, cheeks tinted pink and green as they looked at one another, happy with what they saw.

“Is it okay to touch you like that, Vladimir,” Danny grinned, teasing.

“I’m not sure,” Vlad laughed, leaning in again to brush their lips together, “We might have to try it again and see if it is.”

“Ancients that was cheesy.”

Vlad shrugged, smirking at him and where Danny typically found himself wanting to slap the look off him he now found he wanted to kiss it away instead and that thought alone was cornier than anything Vlad could have possibly said so he supposed they were in the same boat when it came to smoothness.

“We’re really going to try this huh, Plasmius? The whole soulmates thing.”

Vlad nodded, coming close and wiping away all knowledge of the beautiful space around them for a while with his embrace.

“I think we are, Phantom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyy they kiss! 
> 
> Y’all I really didn’t think I’d be updating till after Christmas what with finals and my thesis due in a week, but it happened! Hopefully by the time the next chapter is out my thesis will also be done which is wild. 
> 
> Also! I have known several people throughout my life who will hold conversations in their sleep and I just think it’s really interesting so now I’m like in this story at least you can talk to Danny while he is asleep and he’ll answer back uwu
> 
> Also also I’m super glad I could bring in some more piano stuff the boys deserve it 👌
> 
> Hope y’all liked, kudos and comments as always are appreciated   
> I’m sorry I’m super behind on responding to everyone’s comments even more than usual T^T all my school work is taking up so much of my time I’ll get better over Christmas break lol


	15. Dealing with it.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One conversation about what happened isn’t nearly enough to fix things.

A little while later

* * *

Danny looked up at the stars, arms resting beneath him, a deep sense of contentment washing over him like waves at shore. Closing his eyes he briefly pictured that he was a rock, the water eroding away the rougher edges he’d let fester inside him over the years. It was slow work, smoothing oneself down, but possible.

Right now it felt possible.

Vlad was beside him, looking up at their surroundings as well. His core radiated a soft, warm energy Danny could feel and he found himself wanting to bask in it as embarrassing as the thought was. He may have started coming to terms with liking Vlad but that didn’t make the gentler thoughts feel less mushy.

They’d kissed.

They’d kissed quite a bit, really.

But the words were still a little difficult. Neither of them had much practice with romance it seemed. Vlad read cheesy romance novels, but that didn’t automatically make him good with relationships, funny as it was to picture him swooning over Mr. Darcy. Danny chuckled a bit at the thought.

“What are you thinking about?” Vlad asked to the open space around them, not bothering with looking over.

Danny reddened a bit at the question, he hadn’t expected Vlad to catch his laugh, although he supposed that couldn’t be helped now so he answered, “You.”

“Oh.” Vlad felt like he wanted to combust. This was all so… he wanted to say stupid. A few days ago he probably would have. But now it felt somehow left of stupid. It was still definitely in the range of stupid, given how embarrassed and even shy he felt, and that was weird, but he didn’t care as much about it as he’d thought he would. It was like being a teenager, feeling an odd giddy sort of joy, but those feelings were layered on top of all of his more adult knowledge and understandings. It was a bit off putting. Vlad wanted to form the feelings into a nice clean box, but they didn’t want to go in one.

Everything felt new, but also, deeply familiar.

Maybe it was because he’d technically been in love before, years and years ago so he could sort of remember the feeling. Or maybe it was because it was Daniel and their relationship had always been bizarre and confusing to say the least.

“Just about how much of a nerd you are.”

Yep.

He was definitely going to combust and it was ridiculous and he still hadn’t forgiven Jack for pointing this out and he still intended to strangle him for it if Daniel didn’t make him die a second death dealt by pure embarrassment.

They lapsed into another long silence. Perhaps if they were more practiced with relationships they would have filled that space with something, but they weren’t, so they didn’t.

They weren’t unfamiliar with silence. They would sometimes just lay still after a sparring match and those silences always felt comfortable. But, this one felt different and sure Vlad technically knew why, but he didn’t know why it had to feel the way it did and knowing why something was and why it had to be that way were two very different things once you split the hairs.

Eventually though Daniel sat up, legs curling under him to press his knees to his chest. Vlad mirrored the movement a few moments later when Daniel spoke.

“Hey can I ask you a favor?”

A favor? Vlad looked over to Daniel, a bit confused by the look he caught in the younger halfa’s eyes, his expression distant, “I’d have to know what it was.”

“Course you would,” Danny laughed softly and it was good natured if a little sad because of course Vlad couldn’t simply say yes, it just wasn’t the type of person he was. It was that reliability that made his favor necessary. “Don’t use us being like… together or whatever as an excuse to sugar coat things again. I don’t like it.”

“I won’t. I’d like to keep as many medical supplies on hand given your history of injury.” Vlad said, tone light, but worry began to wheedle its way into him because he knew that wasn’t actually the favor Daniel had meant to ask, it was merely a preamble to it. If that had been all Daniel had wanted he wouldn’t have looked the way he did, his arms crossing over his knees to bury his head, green eyes just barely visible over the top.

“And you’d better not hold back when we’re fighting either, no pulling punches.” Daniel mumble and Vlad nodded, reaching out to place his hand on Daniel’s shoulder as he hid his face completely and drug in a strained breath, voice cracking around his next words as he finally asked what he’d meant to, “And… and if I ever snap, if I ever, you know, become Dan I...I need you to stop me...completely.”

Vlad scooted closer to him, wrapping his arm around Daniel and the younger leaned into him.

It was a heavy favor.

“Whatever it takes, please, Vlad.” Danny managed, trying hard not to think about what he was asking, what he needed, trying hard not to think about Dan. “I’m staying but I don’t want to hurt anyone else. I hurt Sam, Tuck, Jazz, Valerie, mom and dad, and I burnt Dani and I — Vlad I hurt you and it wasn’t like all the other times it felt different and it scared me.”

It had scared Vlad too at the time, still did deep down. Daniel had been volatile that Christmas night, dark and off kilter. The way he’d pulled Vlad’s own fears and weaknesses to the forefront of the conversation, the way he’d turned the voices of Vlad’s loved ones against him had hurt immensely. It had all hurt, Daniel hadn’t pulled any punches, but the psychological aspect to it had been new and searingly painful.

Vlad had had nightmares about it. He didn’t know if he could ever tell Daniel that.

“I didn’t know you could imitate people until then,” he said because he was still processing what he’d been asked to do, his mind swirling with the memories of how violent Daniel had become and the knowledge that that apparently didn’t even scratch the surface of the anger and evil he could hold within him.

Vlad had more than once told Daniel that him being good was such a waste of potential and Daniel had always insisted it wasn’t and Vlad had seen the truth behind that vehement denial two Christmases ago. It wasn’t a waste that Daniel was good, it was a purposeful and constant decision

Perhaps that was what made Daniel a truly good individual; waking up and choosing kindness every day when he could have so easily chosen violence.

Danny looked up from his arms a bit, seeing from the soft look in Vlad’s eyes that they hadn’t put the subject of killing him away, but were instead taking a small breather from it. He was thankful for the reprieve.

In all honesty he’d thought about using Vlad as a failsafe before.

“I thought I was just good at it for a while, but I think it’s an offshoot of my wail and my shapeshifting.”

Vlad nodded, “Most likely, there are quite a few ghosts who have similar capabilities.” He shifted a bit, gently unfurling Daniel from the closed off position he had taken and it was so odd to be this gentle with him, but it also felt natural, like they’d long been moving towards it. Touch had always been a part of their language, although so much of it had been laced with violence. Still, even from the beginning Vlad’s hands would find Daniel’s shoulders and they did so now, smoothing over them and his arms as he drew warmth to his palms to soothe him, “I have one condition for your request.”

Danny nodded, his hands unfolding from around himself at Vlad’s prompting until he was reaching out too. His fingers drifted carefully along Vlad’s cape which was folded up around him, following the fabric until he came to his knees, hands settling there

“You do the same for me, all of it.”

Danny’s eyes snapped to meet Vlad’s and he was greeted by a hardness he’d not seen there in a very long time.

“Fight me like always. If I ever go back to who I was, put me in my place. And if I ever snap too, hurt people we care about, stop me completely. Whatever it takes, Daniel.”

A pact then.

An agreement of mutual destruction come the worst.

Danny had to wonder, had Vlad’s chest hurt when he had asked the elder to stop him, because Danny’s chest sure as hell hurt now at the thought of putting Vlad down.

What would that sort of death even look like? Even feel like? They were already in the afterlife, to somehow wipe their existence clean… what would it be to experience that? Would they have to go back in time and stop their births completely? If that was the case would it feel like that had felt, like nothing at all? Danny didn’t know what was scarier, existing forever or simply ceasing. His mind couldn’t wrap around the concept. To merely imagine nothingness was to miss the point entirely because a true nothingness once conceptualized would exclude him and he couldn’t exclude his consciousness from himself, it was himself.

Could he do that to Vlad, dehumanize him in the most basic way, the way of unbecoming?

He didn’t know. How could he?

These were the questions that could only be answered in practice and god, Danny hoped he’d never have to.

Still, he nodded.

He would promise to be the failsafe for Vlad and Vlad would promise to be that for him and they would just both have to quietly understand that the emotions such a decision truly entailed would never be known until the time came for them to end each other.

Vlad’s arms were tight around him, warm and reassuring, even as the bad taste of their conversation lingered at the backs of their throats.

They sat quietly like that for a long while and this time the silence felt right, necessary. It was heavy, but it wasn’t awkward. It needed to happen so they let the silence wash over them, cores slowly humming in time with one another.

This wasn’t the type of relationship Danny had ever imagined himself having. Dan was something that he dealt with alone. His issues, at least these world ending ones, were his to hold and even when he’d intended to bind himself to Sam and Tucker he’d never planned on laying this on them. Part of him wanted to say that he didn’t want to hurt them like that, couldn’t subject people he loved to the burden… but that wasn’t the whole truth.

Vlad was the only person he knew who would understand how sure he was when he asked to be eliminated, who could swallow that pill. He knew the fear of being someone you didn’t want to be, the abjection of it, of knowing you were abhuman but not quite abhuman enough to be guiltless.

Vlad was the only person he could trust with the task because even if Vlad turned out not to be strong enough to kill him at least he understood.

And that understanding was enough.

He buried his face against Vlad’s chest and let them be quiet

* * *

Danny wasn’t sure when he’d started to drift off or when Vlad had laid down and they’d both silently agreed that a nap would be nice. Sleeping in the Ghost Zone was something Danny rarely got the chance to do given his contentious relationship with most ghosts, but when he had he’d found it deeply soothing to his ghost half, like coming home after years of being away and sleeping in your childhood bed.

He was glad to get the rest now, especially knowing that ghosts didn’t really mess with Plasmius.

Well, most ghosts anyway, and after a little while of in and out moments a bark sounded in the distance as one of the few ghosts not concerned with incurring Plasmius’ wrath bounded across the open space of the fun sized Milky Way.

Danny sat up quickly despite his drowsiness, excitement filling him as he spotted someone he hadn’t seen in a very, very long time.

Cujo crashed into him, scattering stars and space dust around them as he leapt up against Danny’s front

“Cujo!” He beamed as the puppy wagged like mad at the sound of his voice, of his name, jumping up and down around Danny and barking excitedly. Danny looked over to Vlad, “Vlad this is—“

Vlad smiled and waved his hand, “Cujo, yes I’m well aware.” He reached out to scratch Cujo behind the ear, “Dani introduced me to him while we were looking for you, he was quite distraught when you left you know.”

Danny’s smile faltered, slipping to a sad, soft expression as he leaned in close to a Cujo and pressed his nose to his friend’s fur, saying a quiet apology.

Cujo, ever a dog however, simply continued to wag, turning to lick at Danny’s face and barking excitedly, happy to see him despite all that had happened. Danny fleetingly wished everyone could be so forgiving.

He picked up a nearby planet and tossed it, Cujo eagerly running to fetch, paws and tail scattering stars in his wake.

* * *

A few hours later the pair found themselves back in Vlad’s lab, having said goodbye to Cujo and traveled back through the Zone.

Danny smiled the whole way back, dipping and ducking under Vlad as they’d flown to create a complex dance that had made them both feel at home. Danny had thought there in the open space of the Zone that perhaps eternity wouldn’t be so bad.

As soon as they stepped through the portal Danny found his arms full, Dani crashing into him to send him sprawling to the floor.

“Danny I heard what happened, are you okay‽” she pulled back, eyes searching his and Danny was shocked to see how much worry sat etched into her face. Part of him knew that he shouldn’t have been, what had happened to him was a nightmare they both shared, perhaps her even more than him given she’d been born in Vlad’s lab. But after months of quiet from her Danny found himself taken aback.

She let him shift to sit up and he nodded, “Yeah I’m okay, I’m all healed up.”

“No Danny I mean your parents they…” she gestured to his chest, “did that to you. Yeah you’re fine but are you okay?”

Danny winced, gathering his legs up under him so he could stand, the question making him shrink back a bit because he wasn’t okay and he knew that. Despite how nice the day had been, how much he’d enjoyed taking some time to not think about it he knew that he wasn’t going to simply be okay from being ripped open. “I’ll...I’ll be alright, it’s okay really.”

That was a lie and the look in Dani’s eyes betrayed that she knew that, but she didn’t press. Not yet. Danny wasn’t a fool he knew she’d bring it back up later, but for now she backed off looking over to Vlad.

“Heard you lost your arm,” she said, stepping over to him for a quick hug, “Didn’t hear about your lines connecting though.”

Vlad rubbed the back of his neck and Danny could hardly believe how sheepish he looked. He’d not seen the pair interact much after the wedding since Dani had chosen to keep her distance from him. It was an interesting dynamic and Danny got the sense that she had been particularly keen in keeping Vlad in line since he’d been gone. Like him she was hard headed and stubborn and Danny couldn’t imagine her giving Vlad an inch.

“It connected last night after everyone had left.” He said, shifting back to his human form as Danny did the same.

Dani glanced back over to him, eyes narrowing a bit, “We’ll have to talk about that too.”

Vlad laughed as Danny flushed, feeling like a scolded child under her sight, but Vlad just smiled and moved to walk up to the kitchen, “Lunch anyone?”

Dani followed him up with a, “Only if you’re making those nice pizza bombs.” leaving Danny to stand dumbly in the lab for a few seconds before he got the good sense to head to the kitchen catching Vald’s—

“I think I can manage that.”

around a corner.

He’d honestly never thought he’d see Vlad and Dani getting along so well and of course he’d known that they did, he’d looked through the photos in Vlad’s album, but seeing it up close was different.

He sat down at the kitchen counter as Vlad mixed up some dough, picking up an easy conversation with Dani, “When did you hear?”

“Sam texted me yesterday night before she’d left the mansion, said you both looked horrid.”

“It wasn’t pretty, we’ll need to check in on Jack and Maddie. It’s a lot.”

“Understatement.” She hummed, pulling a few ingredients from the fridge, bringing them to the counter, and beginning to chop up an onion.

“How are your summer classes going? Do you have time to take off to check on us?”

“Classes are great, I don’t like how the semester is faster than spring and fall. They’re cramming a lot in so I can’t stay long, but after what happened I had to stop by.” She said as they let the dough sit. “And I think…” she met Danny’s eyes, “I think it’s time I started talking to you more.”

Danny froze up for a moment, a bit dumbfounded, but then she smiled and punched him in the arm like she’d used to and it was so normal and so like high school that it made his chest well with a longing that twisted its way around his ribs.

Danny wondered how it was he could miss something he’d never had because as Dani and Vlad rolled out the dough, handing him a pin so he could join them he found himself wishing it had been like this for a long, long time.

He wanted this to be normal; wanted it to have always been normal.

* * *

A few hours and several servings of pizza bombs later Vlad, Danielle, and Daniel found themselves on the Fenton family stoop having agreed that checking in with Jack and Maddie was something better done sooner rather than later.

An exhausted looking Jack answered the door, dark circles under his eyes betraying that he hadn’t slept. Vlad couldn’t blame him for that, they’d been hit with the news that their son hadn’t been murdered and that they’d tortured him all in the same day. That wasn’t even considering the whole half ghost thing.

“Vladdie…” Jack said, offering him a tired smile and a weak handshake that didn’t sit right with Vlad. He looked over to Daniel, reaching out to touch him, perhaps to check that he was there and real, but his hand stopped midway and tumbled back to his side.

“We wanted to check in,” Vlad said quickly, trying to soothe the hurt look that had flashed across Daniel’s face as quick as lightning.

Jack nearly flinched at his words, stepping aside quickly to let them in, “Of course!”

Danny tensed a bit as he stepped into the house as a human for the first time in years, the floorboards feeling out of place beneath his feet, foreign.

Had he really grown up here?

“Hey dad.” He said, voice too small. It felt almost like he’d been out all night fighting ghosts and returned home in the early morning praying he wouldn’t get caught only to duck his head under his dad’s disapproving eyes, tail tucked between his legs as he scurried up the stairs. Danny didn’t quite think scurrying up the stairs would help this time.

Fuck was his room even his room anymore?

This sure as hell didn’t feel like his house anymore.

“Where’s Maddie?” Vlad ventured as he and Danielle followed Daniel inside, Jack pressing the front door closed too quietly for him.

“She’s in the… the uh lab. Cleaning.”

Danny’s teeth grit at the image of his mother scrubbing his ectoplasm off the floor. Had she slept or had she returned home and set to cleaning then and there, not allowing herself a break? Knowing her Danny knew well enough that it was the latter.

He could imagine the acrid smell of his ectoplasm and cleaner, how it would stain her hands and she would hate it. Had his dad been down there with her? He wasn’t stained green…

Danny stepped into the kitchen and it felt more cramped than he remembered it. He wrapped his arms around himself and squeezed tight.

Everything felt incorrect.

The dishes in the sink were all wrong. The tile on the floor had been changed in the time since he’d been gone. The plants by the little window over the sink were different and one was half dead, wilted, stems twisting. The light was too bright and he could hear the electricity in the walls. It made his teeth itch.

He jumped a bit as Vlad’s hand settled on his shoulder, the elder halfa looking at him with a worried expression.

Maybe it had been too soon to bring Daniel to his house. Sure, they wanted to check in on Jack and Maddie and reaffirm that Daniel was here and alive and sorry, but the way he looked now, caged, worried Vlad. They should have chosen a neutral ground to meet on. “Are you alright?” He murmured quiet enough so that Jack couldn’t hear it. He didn’t want to alarm the man anymore than he already had been in the past twenty four hours.

Danny swallowed, trying not to look at the too wrong everything that had once been his home. He could hardly picture himself here anymore, couldn’t imagine growing up. Well he could, but it was out of body, in the third person. The Danny he’d been then wasn’t him anymore, not even the him that was a halfa. It felt too far away.

Too much had happened and so much of him had died that day by the lake and yesterday on the dissection table. He needed air.

“I’m fine.” He finally answered after a very pregnant pause.

“If I can’t say I’m fine you can’t either.” Vlad countered, hand slipping down Danny’s arm to tangle their fingers together and Danny knew it was supposed to be a comforting gesture but his dad was looking at them, watching the touch and Danny knew he could see how their lines met fully now and he couldn’t do it.

He pulled away quickly, snatching his hand back and running up the stairs, intent on finding his way to the roof.

Vlad winced as his touch was rejected, Daniel leaving quickly. This had definitely been pushing it. He moved to follow, but Danielle nudged her shoulder into his and shook her head, “Let him have a minute, I’ll check up on him, you go talk to them.”

Vlad nodded, perhaps a bit of space was what Daniel needed. He’d always been the type to process things on his own, for better or for worse. The last thing he wanted to do was make Daniel feel more cornered.

“Sorry,” he said to Jack who had seemed to move to follow Daniel as well, a call for him dying in his throat like he wasn’t sure what he’d say if he got Daniel’s attention, “We maybe didn’t think coming here through as much as we should have.”

“He looks different.” Jack said almost immediately and the non sequitur would have left Vlad confused if he wasn’t so used to them. “He… seeing him in the house again after…”

After everything.

After he’d disappeared, after he’d ‘died’, after he’d been gone for over two years, after they’d tortured him, after they’d found out the truth…

Daniel wasn’t Daniel anymore, not the version they knew him to be.

Vlad didn’t know what to say to that because it was true, painfully so and blatantly obvious.

Death came in many forms and the death of the self was perhaps the most common. People changed all the time, but usually their loved ones were there to watch the dying process, the metamorphosis of moving from one self to the other. Parents watched their children die all the time, watched who they were become who they are, watched them grow.

But, Jack and Maddie had known one Daniel one day and then had violently discovered another Daniel years later.

There had been no transition to speak of and it was jarring.

“He’s still Daniel,” he started because that was true, at the end of the day on a fundamental level Daniel was still their son, “You’re just seeing more of him.”

By this point Danielle had decided to leave them to go seek Daniel out, leaving the two of them alone in the living room where Jack sunk into a deep leather recliner. “We should have seen it sooner… we should have seen you sooner.”

Vlad could agree to that, although he wasn’t sure how to confirm this without sounding bitter and resentful so instead he said simply, “We have time to make up for it now, we should focus on that,” and he did believe that. He had wished for so long that he hadn’t spent those years alone in the hospital, but at the end of the day it was best to try and move forward. If these past few years had taught him anything it had been that.

Vlad wanted to make the best of the time they had. One day Jack and Maddie would die and maybe they’d move on, or maybe they’d go to the Ghost Zone who could say, but he wanted to make good on the years in between now and then.

“We lost each other along the way…” Jack said and Vlad hated when he was quiet and he hated how Jack had plucked the exact same thought from his mind. It reminded him of how Jack had used to have been able to read him like an open book and how he’d lost that ability in their years spent apart. “Both you and Danny.”

“Are we…” Vlad took a deep breath in and took a photo from the mantle, the three of them, fiddling with it so his hands had something to do and so he didn’t have to look at Jack, “Are we still friends? I— I was happy that we were fixing things.”

Jack took a while to answer and every second that passed made Vlad want to run to the roof like Daniel had.

“You hurt us.”

Vlad’s eyes closed at the statement, at the pain that poured like cement down his throat and into his chest.

Of course they weren’t still friends. He’d been a fool to hope otherwise.

“You caused so much damage as Plasmius. You over-shadowed me. You tried to hurt Maddie. You hurt Danny.”

“I know.” Vlad said because he knew, he knew and he hated it and himself and the guilt had been eating him alive these past few years and he didn’t know if he could fix it but he was trying. “I died a painful death Jack, I felt abandoned, my ghost was a vengeful one for decades.”

“But you’re still human aren’t you? Your obsession can’t take all the blame for — Vlad I saw how you used to treat Phan—Danny when he was in high school. Those fights were violent, you intended to seriously hurt him and I suspect you did on numerous occasions.”

“I did.” Vlad said bluntly, anger sitting heavy on his tongue. He knew all of this! He didn’t want to hear it! He didn’t want Jack to manifest the thoughts that plagued him. He wanted to put them in a box and move on!

Was it too much to ask to just move on?

“I did! I was violent and confused and scared for years and the one person who could have possibly understood rejected me out right! And I know why now! I can see I was wrong, but I couldn’t then and I’m trying to fix things and Daniel he..! He knows all of this too, sees me! Has seen me for years and we’re working on it and getting better. Isn’t that enough‽”

Please, Vlad wanted to beg, let that be enough.

Because if trying wasn’t enough, if working to get better wasn’t enough, then what was?

Jack just stared at him and looking back down at the photo in his hand Vlad realized he’d let his powers slip a bit, his irises a deep red, fangs exposed, ears clearly lengthened.

“Sorry.” He said, running a hand through his hair and willing himself to be more human looking. He ran his thumb over the picture of them, tracing their faces. “What do you expect me to say? What are you imagining you’ll hear?”

What scenarios had been running rampant in Jack’s head since the moment Vlad had transformed in front of him?

“I don’t know.”

Vlad had to laugh at that, soft and sad, laced with a painful, self deprecating irony, “How do we fix this? Fix us, you, Maddie, and I, because I love you, the both of you. I have for years. We were going to bond and everything became so confusing and I want, I want things to not be confusing.”

“Do you love Danny?”

“I, you already said I did yesterday.”

“But you didn’t answer.”

Technically that wasn’t true. Vlad had provided an answer, but they both knew it had been a bold faced lie.

“I do, Jack.” He admitted for the first time verbally, “and I know that this isn’t how we’d ever planned things, but it’s here now and I… those years spent alone were the worst years of my life and I don’t know if I’m strong enough to go back to them so can we please just…”

Just take what they’d been given.

Just try to move forward, forward, forward.

Lingering in these spaces was too heavy and Vlad wasn’t used to being open and honest with people. He’d always been reserved but his incident and the following years had only exacerbated those qualities.

“I don’t know.” Jack said and despite it being a disappointing answer Vlad could see in his eyes that what he’d really meant to say was, ‘I don’t know, but I hope so.’

“I want…” Vlad started and set the picture back down on the mantle, hands flexing awkwardly at his side because this, out of everything, was perhaps the most difficult to say, “I want you and Maddie to see me too.”

Even the ugly parts.

Vlad was tired, so tired.

Yesterday had been one of the worst case scenarios and the past few years had been a marathon of balance, of mixing personal growth with layers of lies.

Vlad needed the type of rest sleep didn’t provide.

“We should talk to Maddie,” Jack said as he stood, clasping his hand over Vlad’s shoulder, making him feel small, but not defenselessly so.

Vlad nodded in silent agreement and they moved to walk down to the Fenton family lab.

* * *

  
The scent of Daniel’s ectoplasm and medical grade cleaner were heavy in the air, heavy enough to settle on the shoulders and push down.

Maddie twisted around as they came down the stairs, a scalpel slipping from her fingers to clang to the metal tray beneath.

“Danno and Vladdie are here, Mads.” Jack said as she collected herself and Vlad knew the look in her eyes like he knew the back of his hand, a veneer thin and fragile over the cracks beneath.

“Have you slept?” Vlad asked quietly, trying not to let his gaze linger on the few remaining splatters of green and pink.

“I’ll sleep once the lab is clean.” Maddie said, sure and stubborn, turning away from them to clean and already spotless silver hammer. Vlad remembered the bruises of newly healed bones across the knuckles of Daniel’s hands and swallowed. “It’s imperative to keep a lab space clean, you know that.”

It wasn’t just the smell pushing down on his shoulders and Jack felt it too, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. “Why don’t you at least have some lunch?”

Maddie’s fingers tightened around the hammer’s handle and for a second Vlad assumed she’d remind them that eating in the lab was not proper procedure, but then she sighed and sat the hammer down, “Alright.”

“Would you like a sandwich, V-man?” Jack asked, stiff.

“That would be nice.”

With that Jack left them alone and Vlad got the sense that it was purposeful because Maddie sighed again, shoulders sagging. She pinched the bridge of her nose and Vlad could only imagine the tension headache that must have been burning its way between her eyes.

“We got into a fight.” Maddie said as she rubbed her face.

Vlad nodded, that was easy enough to see what with her covered in ectoplasm from cleaning and Jack spotless. It wasn’t hard for him to imagine her angrily kicking him out, insisting she be left alone.

“I see your lines connected.” She said after his silence where he had given her space to elaborate like he’d used to when she was upset back in college, but she’d chosen to move on to another subject. He wouldn’t push.

“Daniel couldn’t sleep, he came to me.” He explained simply, picking up a rag and some cleaning agent, “Mind if I help?”

“Yeah,” she said and then shook her head, tired confusion flashing across her face, “No, I mean no I don’t mind.”

Vlad offered her up a small smile and began cleaning what mess there was left, after a moment she spoke again.

“Is it romantic?”

Neither of them looked at one another.

“We believe so, yes. We’re trying.”

“I don’t like that.”

Vlad winced at her tone, at her typical bluntness. A part of him wanted to say that it didn’t matter whether she liked it or not, but a larger part of him knew that she understood that and was merely speaking her mind and he knew that need.

“How many times have you hurt him?”

Vlad scrubbed at a stain on the floor and he could feel her eyes on him, over him. “Maddie…”

“Tell me, Vlad.”

“I don’t know.” He balled the rag up in his hands and looked up at her, meeting her expression head on, “I lost track, is that what you want me to say, because it’s true, but Daniel and I have always had a deeply complex relationship.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“Mads… you have to understand that this is far more complicated than you understand.”

“Then explain! Explain to me why you spent years hurting my son!”

Vlad felt a growl crawl it’s way up his throat, defensive and instinctual, “Because I was broken! Because I had snapped! Madeline I’ve already told Jack that I was wrong and I know that now and Daniel and I are working on it! We’re dealing with it ourselves!”

“We wish you didn’t have to deal with it yourselves, that you two had let us in before...before!” Maddie’s hands moved animatedly in front of her before she froze, stiffened, hand flying to her mouth as the memories surged forward. She tilted her head back and blinked hard, willing the tears away.

“Maddie—” Vlad stood and set the pink and green smeared rag aside, to reach out for her and although he hesitated he carried through, hand wrapping around her arm and when he met no resistance he pulled her in.

Her face and hands pressed to his chest and he felt the tears she’d been holding back smear against his shirt, the dampness seeping through. “I hurt my son… Danny I… he screamed the whole time and I just didn’t care, I didn’t care Vlad I—! The smell, the ectoplasm… his ectoplasm is all over the lab and I can’t!”

“Mads, Mads slow down,” Vlad reassured, hand rubbing over her back. “Deep breath.” He took one of his own, he needed it, and thankfully she followed along, the air catching in a sob she buried in his chest and he could feel it shudder through him.

“How do you deal with it…” she choked, wiping messily at her face, the motion limited by how tightly Vlad was holding her and he remembered that she hated to cry even more than he did. “Loving him and knowing you hurt him?”

 _Oh_.

Vlad’s hand found her hair, tangling there, rocking back and forth just a bit.

“It’s hard, Madeline…”

Their very first semester together Maddie had failed her freshman biology final. She’d been making an A in the class, but she’d psyched herself out studying for her other courses and had stayed up late too many days in a row. Burnt out and stretched too thin she had crashed the day before her 8 am exam and by the time she’d woken up the test had been over.

She had found her way to Jack and Vlad’s dorm and cried on the floor in front of Jack’s bed. At the time Vlad hadn’t understood why she hadn’t crawled up onto Jack’s mattress, but years later he knew that sometimes the bed was just too far away and the floor held an odd comfort. Laying on it was like asking the earth to swallow you up and sometimes that was a necessary feeling.

He sunk down, lowering them to the ground, letting her lean against him.

There on the dorm room floor he and Jack had both comforted Maddie, arms wrapping around her and perhaps that’s what they needed now. Jack had ordered them some pizza and they’d spent the night comforting her and then laughing it off because it was freshman biology and she could retake it and replace the grade.

This wasn’t freshman biology, far from it, but Jack was walking down the stairs with sandwiches and a few beers and Vlad knew everything would be okay.

Jack sat down beside them and Maddie straightened, brushing her hair out of her face, “I’m a mess.” She said, taking another deep breath as a tired laugh escaped her.

“I haven’t seen you this torn up since you failed that biology exam and Dr. Hector wouldn’t let you make it up,” Vlad commented, bringing the memory to the surface and Jack laughed.

“We got him back though remember that?” Jack smiled, handing Maddie and Vlad both a beer.

“Locked his keys in his car then saran wrapped the whole thing,” Vlad laughed, leaning against a shelf, legs sprawling out in front of him as he popped the tab on his drink.

Maddie laughed, sniffling a bit and Jack handed her a towel he’d brought down with the food. She cleaned up a little, “He was so pissed.”

“Thought he was going to burst a blood vessel.” Jack pushed the plate of sandwiches towards her and she took one, biting into it, eating a good bit before saying, “I’m sorry I snapped at you, Jack.”

Jack reached out and squeezed her hand before leaning closer and wrapping her up properly in his large arms, “We were both shook up,” he smiled gently, tired but full of love and the unspoken forgiveness of never having thought a true transgression occurred.

“Can we… do this, just stay friends?” She asked, looking over to Vlad.

“What else is there?” He asked, downing his can of beer and grabbing another. “We just go back to ignoring each other? Daniel wants a relationship with you and given that we are bound we’ll end up interacting, our relationship repaired or not.”

Jack and Maddie both nodded. Vlad knew beyond a shout of a doubt that they would want to heal things over with their son and that Daniel would prefer him to have a good relationship with his parents considering they were soulmates, so seeing each other again was inevitable. There was no decades of separation available to them and Vlad didn’t want that.

Maddie pressed her beer can into the center of the makeshift circle they had made and Vlad smiled, remembering how years ago she had done the same after they’d decided to pranked Dr. Hector, “It’s going to be harder than saran wrapping a car.”

Jack leaned in, his drink meeting the side of Maddie’s own, “But we’ve always appreciated a challenge.”

They both looked at Vlad, extending that olive branch out and he took it without hesitation, his can meeting theirs with a satisfying clink.

“One day at a time then.”

They drank on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’all my thesis is finished!  
> Also sorry for any mistakes I edit really fast because I was excited to get the chapter up it feels like forever since I’ve updated what with school and all.  
> But I did it! I got my paper in on time and I’m real happy with it so ÙwÚ hell yeah 
> 
> Also you might have seen the little ‽ punctuation. That’s an interrobang it’s basically !? But as one punctuation. Hell, on my phone if I write the word interrobang the ⁉️ emoji comes up. I like it better than !? Because it just feels less clunky and I wish it was a more common punctuation. 
> 
> Also, also I got a comment a while back (btw I’m gonna be going through and responding to comments now that I have time) that asked if Cujo was going to show up to which I said, "crud, he does have a dog."  
> I hope that part was okay, I gotta be honest here I am really not a dog person, trust me on this they are just not for me, so like idk how to write a dude being like cool my dog! Because I don’t really feel that way about dogs personally. Like that scene made me more stressed than like the serious talks between Jack, Maddie, and Vlad... although I hope those were okay too. It’s hard to capture all those emotions of like we do want to stay friends but things are so complicated.
> 
> Anyway! Hope you like, hope everyone’s staying safe and having a good holiday season!
> 
> Next chapter we get to see what Dani and Danny are talking about.


	16. Dan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few more conversations and a fight.
> 
> Heads up this chapter has the following TWs:  
> -Mentions of self harm  
> -Mentions of needles  
> -Anxiety attacks
> 
> Also the boys finally get down to business check the tags.

At the same time

* * *

Danny ran up the stairs, chest tight, face burning with what, embarrassment? The house had felt all wrong. Vlad touching his hand like that in front of his Dad had just made everything seem too loud.

Loud?

Was that the word for it? Fuck… Jazz would tell him what this was, she’d know, she’d say something smart. He racked his brains for it as he shifted forms to fly to the roof because running was taking too damn long.

Overstimulation? Was that it, was he overstimulated? Was he having a panic attack or an anxiety attack, he couldn’t remember the difference and his mind was reeling and he wasn’t even sure why. All he knew for sure was that the outside air pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind and it felt like he could actually see again as he looked out over the city.

His hands gripped the side railing of the roof hard and bowed his head, trying to stretch a bit and breathe. He felt nauseous and he had to swallow hard around a lump that he wasn’t sure the origin of. It could have been tears or it could have been vomit, Danny wasn’t sure if the distinction mattered.

Dannh was shaking, trying to organize his thoughts. He knew he wouldn’t be able to go down to the lab, but he’d thought the living room and kitchen would be okay. Apparently not. Then there’d been the thing with Vlad and that was confusing. Vlad had never really touched him with true intent in front of his parents, all of their actions were clouded with layers of double meanings. Glances that spoke to him of threats had come across as friendly to his parents, a hand on his shoulder had never been what they had thought it was.

To have Vlad touch him in a way he meant in front of his dad had felt so… private, especially now that they knew Vlad was Plasmius. They knew Vlad hadn’t touched him gently up until recently. He wondered what they thought about that, of the pain they were learning he’d gone through. What the hell were they going to think about him liking Vlad.

Would they think he was fucked up?

Danny himself had to admit it was a bit fucked up. Vlad had beaten the shit out of him regularly when he was in high school.

God what would Jazz say? He could only imagine the psychoanalysis she’d try to pull. She’d probably call him a masochist or some shit… which, Danny’s brows furrowed. No he didn’t want to think about that right now things were already too confusing without wondering how nice Vlad’s fangs would feel on his neck… on his inner thighs, Vlad’s claws on his hips as h—

“Ugh!” Danny threw his hands in the air. Why was his whole stupid brain confused‽ Wasn’t he supposed to be having a panic attack type thingy not thinking about Vlad?

“That bad, huh?”

Danny whipped around to see Dani standing there, her arms crossed over his chested nonchalantly. He groaned, “Fuck, sorry I ran.” He said, running his hand through his hair and taking a deep breath. It had to look bad just bolting like that.

“Nah, you’re good.” Dani said, walking up beside him and leaning over the rail, “Vlad’s talking to your parents. Sorry if you were expecting him.”

“No that’s...it’s,” he sighed, unsure of how to verbalize his mixed feelings, “He’d probably have just stressed me out more.”

Dani laughed a bit at that and nodded, “Still a bit jumpy around him.”

Danny flushed and shook his head, “What? No!”

“Well sure maybe not around just him, but in front of others it’s a little weird right?” She said, looking over to him with an understanding smile. “I was the same way when we first started getting along more, him being nice to me in front of everyone else threw me a bit.”

Danny hadn’t thought about that… Vlad had treated her poorly too and had gone through the process of healing their relationship. They’d come a long way, that much was evident, but Danny hadn’t thought about the beginning of that process, how odd it must have been having Vlad be civil around others.

“It’s…”

“Bizarre. Yeah.” She punched him in the arm like she had back in Vlad’s kitchen.

“It wasn’t even a lot, it was that it was so different from before on top of being back in the house.” Danny said, feeling like he could talk a bit better as his arm ached where her hit had landed, the sensation grounding.

“You know I hate Vlad’s lab, can’t stand the place.” She hummed, turning around and looking up at the sky. It was a nice day, very few clouds scattered about a blue sky, the temperature warm, but not heavily so.

“But you were in there today.”

“Doesn’t mean I like it, even after he took the cloning equipment out of there it feels weird.” She said, scooting just a bit closer to him, “It takes time. I won’t lie about that, but it does get easier.”

“Thanks Dani,” he said, meaning that more than he was able to express, “That helps.”

“I’m glad, just don’t expect any wild, deep, philosophical comforting from me. I’m not good at it.” She shrugged, turning back to look at the city, watching people come and go down the street. She’d long enjoyed people watching.

“Yeah me neither.”

“Think it’s the genes or our messed up lives?” She laughed as a teal car rounded its way onto the block and she recognized the two women inside.

“Probably both.” Danny said, taking another deep breath, letting the tension in his gut slowly unwind, “That’s what Jazz would say anyway.”

“Well you can ask her when she gets up here.”

Danny blinked, looking up from where he’d started to fiddle with his hands, “She’s coming?”

“Just pulled in,” Dani nodded, pointing down to where Danny hadn’t noticed her car pull up, her and Valerie quick to hop out and make their way to the front door. Dani leaned over the guardrail, waving down to them, “Hey we’re up here!”

Jazz and Valerie both stopped dead in their tracks, heads snapping up to stare for a moment before Jazz yelled in a concerned voice, “Danny!”

“Yeah I’m here!” He yelled back down and with that the two were rushing through the house, footsteps loud enough for him to hear them coming up the stairs.

Jazz flung the door open and ran to him, crushing him to her chest. She squeezed him so tight he felt his back crack, but he wrapped his arms around her just as tight. He’d missed her.

She pulled back but didn’t let go, hands moving over him, frantic and worried, touching his face, his shoulders, arms, squeezing his hands. “T-They know everything now don’t they? Sam and Tucker called.”

“Yeah...yeah they know. Vlad’s talking to them now.”

“Sam said you two already explained things to them.” Valerie said after she hugged Dani, reaching out to rub her hand over Jazz’s shoulders, soothing her.

Danny could only imagine how torn up his sister had been, her eyes were red and puffy. “We did but he’s checking in on them, they didn’t really take it well. I mean, they took it better than I thought they might, they aren’t attacking me, but they’re shook up.” He explained, Jazz’s fingers squeezing his hard.

“I should have been here, I could have stopped them if I was here, Danny I—”

Danny shook his head quickly, “No, no Jazz, no you’re off doing your own thing and that’s great! You have your own life, you shouldn’t have to stay home watching out for me, besides…” his face flushed a bit, “Vlad was there.”

Jazz’s gaze softened a bit and she tilted her head, looking over the line around his throat, “It’s a romantic bond.”

“Yeah…” Danny said, soft, “It’s fucking weird but I…”

“I’m glad.” She said, cutting him off, “He’s like you, he can be there for a long, long time.”

Danny was flabbergasted, he’d expected her to be far more defensive, but she sounded genuine and he could see from the gentle look in her eyes that she meant it, “Y-You’re not going to psychoanalyze me for being into my arch nemesis or go kick Vlad’s ass or something?

She pulled away, hand tapping against his cheek, “Danny I’ve known you were messed up for years, getting beaten up in those high stress situations so regularly while going through puberty, it was bound to affect you. Don’t even get me started on how often he choked you, I can only imagine what you two are int—”

“Jazz!” Danny’s face was scarlet at the implications and at the images of Vlad’s hands around his throat because oh god Jazz was right.

She grinned, “Come on it's my job to mess with you. Although yes, if Vlad ever hurts you I will figure out a way to permanently murder him. I’m sure Valerie has some ideas.”

Valerie nodded, “Oh absolutely.”

“You’re literally the worst.”

“Yeah, yeah,” She said, “How are you doing though, after everything?”

Danny rubbed the back of his neck, shoulders drawing up in an over done shrug, “Might have had a bit of a freak out being back in the house, everything just felt so loud even though it wasn’t really.”

“You got overstimulated.” She said and Danny found himself oddly proud that he’d been able to name the feeling when he’d wondered what Jazz would have said. It seemed like he actually had managed to pick up a few things from her. “Have you eaten or drank anything since then, anxiety attacks can tax your body more than you would think.”

“No, not yet, Dani helped calm me down and then you guys showed up.”

“K, I’ll go get you some food and water.”

“Thanks.”

She smiled again and left him with Valerie and Dani and he turned to see them, grinning from ear to ear, “What?”

“Choking, huh?” Valerie pressed and he glared at the both of them. He’d forgotten what little shits they could be when they ganged up on him.

“Shut up!” He snapped but it only caused them to laugh more, Dani floating up over his head.

“Oh! I bet he likes the fangs too and when Vlad does his angry red eyes.” She teased and he swatted at her but she floated out of range like a ball in a game of keep away.

“Guys what the fuck! Our bond just finished, it’s not like… it’s not like we’ve even done anything!” He couldn’t believe this, well he could, but he couldn’t believe it was happening so soon. His friends were messing with him, annoying him, and it had been years and sure he hated how red his face was but he… he loved it too. He loved that this felt like high school again, that it felt normal. It felt like he was getting teased about a crush and that was something that happened to ordinary people.

Valerie made a kissy face and Dani swooned and it was average and embarrassing and Danny laughed.

How could life be so fucked up, but so mundane? He’d been through hell in the past twenty four hours yet here he was, being teased and taunted about liking Vlad. He thought for a moment there that if he’d gotten a call Dani and Val would have loudly faked moans or told him to put their secret drugs away, or done literally anything that teenagers liked to do to mess with one another.

He had good friends.

Strong friends who rolled with the punches of his batshit life and even though they fought sometimes, everything was coming around.

They found themselves in each other’s arms. Danny wasn’t sure when it had happened. Dani had landed and punched his arm again like she did and he had shoved her a bit and Val had caught his head and neck under her arm and given him a noogie, knuckles rubbing against his scalp hard and they’d ended up all hugging.

Jazz came back with food enough for all of them and joined the embrace. They sat down to eat, laughed and talked like normal, like they’d used to and eventually Sam and Tucker made it over bringing pizzas and soda and a Bluetooth speaker and they’d all held each other, happy together for the first time in a very long while.

* * *

  
Eventually Vlad, Maddie, and Jack left the lab, feeling better if still a bit shaky. The wounds were healing and their talks had been productive but they weren’t going to be one hundred percent better overnight. They still had a long way to go and Vlad got the impression that Maddie was still very on the fence about his relationship with Daniel. Jack seemed to be taking it well enough, but as was typical of her Maddie was slow to warm up.

Still, he couldn’t help but think back to her question about how it felt to love someone you knew you had hurt. The truth was he was well acquainted with the feeling, had been long before he’d bonded with Daniel. He’d hurt Jack and Maddie and yes, part of that had been tied up in all of their mistakes, but he wished he’d reached out to them before the reunion.

It was hard, just as he’d said. It wasn’t something that got better quickly and he knew he’d feel guilty for years and years to come, but it did get better. Vlad was learning that. Some days were better than others, but as long as he wanted to move forward he felt like he could. Slow and steady won the race after all.

They walked up to the roof together and found Daniel along with everyone else sitting around a flip out table, eating and drinking, music playing from one of Tucker’s speakers. They looked happy and Vlad felt his chest swell with warmth. It was nice to see Daniel interacting with others again, even if it did make some of his jealous tendencies rear their ugly heads.

Daniel looked over as he heard the door open and he caught Vlad’s eyes and the smile he offered him quieted those less than friendly emotions. Not quite sure what level of interaction was okay given how Daniel had pulled away earlier he lingered awkwardly as Jack and Maddie joined the little party that had gathered.

Thankfully though Daniel stood, reaching out and this time he wasn’t tense when he tangled their fingers together, dragging him over to the table.

* * *

They passed a good portion of the evening there on the roof, talking, laughing, catching up, but Danny knew it wouldn’t last and at some point his mom’s hand found his shoulder and she quietly asked to speak to him.

He stood, saying a quick “Be right back,” to everyone and squeezed Vlad’s hand before heading inside. His dad didn’t follow them, but Danny figured he would at some point.

His heart beat fast in his chest, nerves forming a solid ball of ice in the pit of his stomach. He knew what conversation was coming and he really didn’t want to have it.

They found their way into the kitchen and his mom motioned for him to sit down like she used to when he came home with a bad report card. He’d missed a lot while he’d been gone but he certainly hadn’t missed that, failing at school and watching the disappointment grow in her eyes.

Danny sat as she set some water to boil, pulling two mugs out of the cupboard and a box of mint tea.

“So,” She started, not looking at him, focusing instead on what she was doing, “You and Vlad.”

He winced, messing with a years old scratch in the table, “Yeah…”

“I don’t really approve.” She said, blunt and Danny sighed, wanting to bury his face in his hands, but instead he bucked up his nerves. Vlad wasn’t some D in math class.

“You don’t have to approve.” He said, sure and calm. “It’s not up to you. He’s my soulmate, we’ve bonded completely.”

Her shoulders sagged and her expression said she knew that as she turned around and leaned against the counter, arms tight across her chest, “Why can’t it be a platonic bond? I mean, we’re… we’re going to try fixing things. We talked it out, but isn’t it hard, considering what he’s done, doesn’t it worry you?”

“It’s more than platonic… it’s new but we know that much, we can’t just,” Danny gestured vaguely with his hand, “We can’t just turn it off or whatever… and yeah… yeah it does kind of worry me but the same could be said for him considering I’ve ended the world before.”

She tensed at the mention of the lost timeline, falling silent for a long while before Danny decided to continue for her.

“You know, in that timeline I found him, hidden away. He helped me get home when I was stuck in the future when he could have easily refused. I’ve known Vlad has good in him since I was fourteen.”

His mom’s eyes widened, taken aback for a moment, “You saw that other timeline when you were _fourteen_?”

Danny nodded, “Saw you die. Saw Dad, Jazz, Sam, Tucker, Mr. Lancer too, I saw you all die.” He drug in a slow breath, “I don’t like to talk about it… Jazz has tried to help and I mean that’s bound to mess anyone up, but it was so soon after I half died. My powers were still shaky, I was scared and he...me, I took everything from me and I was just expected to get it back or have my existence erased.”

“Danny…” Her face was pinched in pain, “We didn’t know—”

“Of course you didn’t!” Danny snapped, feeling bad that he made her flinch, but fuck this had to be said, “You thought I was going through some teenage rebellion when really I was out there keeping people safe, saving the world too many fucking times, listening to you and Dad talk about dissecting me!”

His cheeks were hot, eyes stinging with tears. His legs bounced against the tile floor, fast, ready to bolt. “So yeah! You can not like me and Vlad being together, but it’s my choice and I’m used to making my decisions alone.”

He wiped at his eyes messily, he didn’t want to be told what to do now. He loved his parents, he did, but he’d spent two years completely independent and yes, that had been a mistake but it sure as hell had taught him about doing things his way, on his prerogative.

When he finally looked up he saw tears streaking down his mom’s cheeks and his heart sank, the fire dying inside him as he stood and made his way over to her, arms out, “Fuck… mom, shit I didn’t mean to yell.” He said, soft and tired.

She fell into his arms and he realized he was taller than her now and that beyond the day before he’d never actually seen her cry. Yesterday he’d been in such a daze that he hadn’t registered it much beyond his own emotions and the pain of healing, but now it was jarring. He knew that she must have cried like this at his funeral and his heart ached.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped, things are just so complicated…” he whispered and she hugged him tight and oddly enough the touch felt right. He’d been worried that it wouldn’t. In Vlad’s living room the night before he hadn’t wanted his parents to touch him, but in this moment it felt okay and Danny wondered how long he’d have to deal with the mood swings regarding it.

It was something they were going to have to work on together, him being okay with their touch one second and then fearing it the next.

“I missed you.” She said so quietly he could hardly hear it, but it was enough. Tears choked him again and he hugged her tighter.

“I missed you too mom…” and he had, had more than anything. Despite how sure he’d been in his decision nothing could have helped the deep homesickness that had burrowed into his bones while he was away. He’d missed everything about his home and his parents, even the stupid things, hell even their lousy Christmas arguments. He’d just wanted to hear their voices again.

She pulled back after a long moment and although they were technically still arguing he didn’t want to let her go, but he had too as the water finished heating and she moved to finish making their tea. It was only after she took a few sips of her drink, careful not to burn herself, that she asked, “How did you forgive him, for everything..? I don’t know if I can.”

“I haven’t.” Danny said, matter of factly as he used some of his ice powers to cool down his drink, watching carefully as his mom’s eyes tracked the movement of frost up the side of his glass. She was going to have to get used to his powers now and it was best to start small. “Jazz would say that forgiving him isn’t excusing his actions, she used to tell me that when I’d get mad at Dash for bullying me, but… I don’t think it’s about forgiveness.”

He’d heard a lot over the course of his life, and half life for that matter, that forgiveness was about letting go. Forgiveness said, your actions are not justified, or null, but I won’t let them affect me anymore.

But…

Danny didn’t think moving on was about that.

He never really had.

Sometimes it was deeper than forgiving and he hated the narrative that someone hadn’t moved on until they had forgiven, as if it were the end all be all of personal growth.

Danny just didn’t believe that. He didn’t want to treat healing as if it had a finish line. He didn’t want to get caught up in getting better and what that meant. It wasn’t a definable thing.

“I think it’s possible to like him even if I haven’t forgiven him… I know I will someday, we’re immortal. It’ll happen eventually, but until then I’m not going to pretend like I’m not happy our lines connected.” He said, watching the steam curling from his drink wane, taking a sip. He’d never been much of a tea person. He didn’t care what anyone said it all tasted like warm lawn trimmings, but it wasn’t horrid in small doses.

He pulled some cream out of the fridge, dumping a fair amount in as his mom spoke, “I’m sorry we… I’m thankful Vlad was there. I can’t forgive everything yet but I’m glad he saved you.”

Danny reached into the cupboard for some sugar, “I would have been fine.” He said, perhaps a bit too hard but the memories hurt and addressing them was like jumping off a cliff, “I would have healed eventually, found a way out, but,” Danny stirred a spoonful of sugar into his drink, watching the crystals melt, “I’m glad too. It made us realize some things.”

The way Vlad had been looking at him had said more than they had managed to say to in the entire time they had known one another.

The stairs behind them creaked and they glanced through the kitchen archway to see Jack walking down. Danny tried to picture Vlad alone with his friends and found it an odd image despite knowing that it was a fairly common occurrence.

“Hey Danno.”

“Hey dad,” he smiled, welcoming the way his dad’s hand clasped over his shoulder, glad that it hadn’t fallen back in hesitation as it had at the door.

“Mom giving you an earful?” He asked, smiling over at her and she rolled her eyes good naturedly.

“Someone has to, I know you just want to ask him questions about the whole halfie thing.”

“Halfa.” Danny corrected and he couldn’t help but laugh because he’d never thought he’d say that word in front of them. “That’s what the ghosts call us, though Vlad’s research refers to us as ‘individuals subjected to ectoplasmic radiation poisoning resulting in DNA mutations’ which is a mouthful.”

“But that’s exactly what I’m interested in, the science!” He moved from Danny to wrap his arm around his wife, pulling her close, “Come on Mads, let’s set the heavy stuff aside, we’re scientists! There’s got to be something you’re ‘dying’ to ask.”

Danny groaned, that pun was awful even by his standards, but his mom nodded, “If he’s up for it.”

“Just a few questions,” Danny agreed, “But nothing too sciencie, that’s Vlad’s thing.”

“Alright, so Vlad told your dad and I that ghosts have feelings and consciousness, is that true?

Danny nodded, floating up a bit to sit on the kitchen counter, now this he could talk about, “Oh yeah they’ve actually got a whole sort of society, it’s a loose one, but it’s there a—”

He carried on like that a while, telling them about the Zone, about his friends there that he hadn’t seen in years, that he really needed to visit with. He told them about how Clockwork had saved his skin over and over again and how Skulker wasn’t nearly as bad as he pretended to be, especially when Ember was keeping him in line.

Eventually Vlad found his way down and they got caught up in each other. Vlad had joined the conversation, chipping in about Ghostwriter and Danny had pretended to barf.

“That guy is the worst!”

“He’s just very defensive about his work, Daniel. He’s a creative.”

“He trapped me in a Christmas story during the truce!”

“Wait, wait this ghost trapped you in a story, how does that even work?” His dad asked.

His mom followed it up quickly with, “There’s a truce?”

They both nodded, “Every Christmas.” Vlad said before turning back to Danny, “Besides it’s not like you haven’t fought during the truce party and he’s mellowed over the years.”

“You cannot tell me you haven’t fought on Christmas.”

“I haven’t.” Vlad insisted before frowning a bit guiltily and admitting, “Well, not physically.”

“See!”

They both smiled, realizing in that moment that Vlad had gotten closer to Danny who was still perched on the kitchen counter, settled in between his legs.

Catching Jack and Maddie’s eyes Vlad scooted back sheepishly. It was so bizarre to be talking about this sort of thing in front of his friends. He’d hidden this part of him for so long, the Vlad they saw here was one they weren’t acquainted with and for a moment he imagined his human friends meeting his ghost ones.

That would be a trip to say the least.

How would they even go about that? He’d have to run Jack and Maddie through a metal detector.

He laughed and Daniel smiled, “What’s so funny?”

“I’m thinking about them meeting the ghosts we know.”

“Ancients, that’d be a mess.” Daniel said and his hand seemed to move forward of its own violation but Vlad took it anyway, slow and unsure, but Daniel just smiled and said, “It’s late, we should go back to the… we should get home.”

Home.

Daniel had called the mansion home, on purpose. Vlad had caught the hesitation, how he’d changed his words. He felt an indescribable all encompassing warmth wash over him, making his heart beat fast and his core hum brightly.

Vlad was going home, home with his soulmate.

He’d long given up such sentiments and yet, here it was, gifted so gently.

“We should.” He said, near breathless as Daniel hopped off the counter and set his empty cup in the nearby sink, holding his hand the entire time before gently letting go to hug Jack and Maddie goodbye at the front door. Vlad’s face was burning, fingers tingling. He couldn’t stop thinking the word home and he looked forward to getting back to the mansion, however just as they were stepping out Jack grabbed Daniel’s shoulder and pulled him in for a quick conversation that neither he nor Maddie could hear.

* * *

Danny was confused as his dad pulled him back from the door, leading him through the kitchen and into the living room. Why let them go to the door only to pull him back so far into the house?

“Yeah dad?” He asked as the hand slipped from his shoulder and his dad looked down at him seriously. He may have been taller than his mom but he was definitely not at his father’s height.

“I have to ask you a favor.”

“I’d have to know what it was first.” Danny said, taking a page from Vlad’s book because he swore if this favor was to run tests and experiments on him he was absolutely not going to agree.

“Take care of Vlad.”

Of all the things his dad could have asked him he hadn’t expected it to be that.

“W-What...” the way his voice cracked around the word captured his feelings pretty well, glancing back through the kitchen archway to see his mom and Vlad at the door, seeming to chat easily.

“Vladdie should have completed a bond a long time ago,” he said and the confusion that had filled Danny at his dad’s request faded, “He’s had a hard life.. well, death I guess, and he’s done a lot that isn’t okay but he’s my friend and I still want him to be happy.”

“Yeah dad,” Danny said, offering him a warm smile. He’d known they had all been close before Vlad’s incident, but today had shown him just how much he had failed to grasp regarding their past. He made a mental note to try and learn more about both his parents and Vlad, “I think I can do that.”

With that his dad pulled him into a tight hug before returning him to the front door where he and Vlad said one last goodbye as the door closed.

Danny looked up as they walked back towards the sidewalk, waving up to the roof, “Hey guys!” He shouted, waiting until a few moments later Jazz and his friends looked over the side and waved back down to him. “We’re heading out!”

A chorus of goodbyes rained down on them and Vlad waved too before they both glanced around for onlookers and when they found none they transformed and made their way back to the mansion, back home.

* * *

  
A short while later

* * *

Danny’s feet pressed against the foam mattress, a slow breath sliding through him calm and ready. He grinned, catching Vlad’s eyes across the ring.

He had proposed they spar not long after they’d returned, body itching for a good fight. They’d changed into sweats and gone to Vlad’s gym for the first time since their bond had been sealed and something about them being connected now made the fight even better.

Vlad kept his promise, his hits landing hard and unforgiving. He gave Danny no good openings, no easy strikes, defense as strong as ever.

This was their first language.

Before the heavy conversations and the softer touches, before their fingers had tangled and brushed along their shared lines they had spoken with banter and the burn of ectoplasm across their skin.

Years ago fighting with Vlad had been terrifying, now it was exhilarating. Danny could hit as hard as he wanted, could flex his powers, and in Vlad’s halfa proof gym he didn’t have to worry about doing damage.

Vlad grinned back at him, wild and Danny took a second to appreciate how he was the only one who got to see Vlad like this, happy amidst violence, letting the joy of it sing through him. Of course, that second of marvel was all Vlad needed to rush forward and Danny hadn’t expected any less.

Vlad kicked him hard in the side at Danny’s mistake, but Danny made the best of it, using the momentum to roll to the opposite side despite how his lungs burned at the hit, firing off a quick few ghost rays.

“Not quite,” Vlad teased as he dodged with a practiced ease, “Didn’t you promise not to pull your punches, little badger?”

“Sure did, fruitloop,” he grinned as a clone of him appeared over Vlad’s head, hands clenched together and swinging down hard in tandem to smack Vlad into the ground, the man letting out a cry of surprise.

Pulling the clone off of him roughly, Vlad sent him crashing into himself, wielding the second Danny as a weapon briefly. Danny was reminded of how Vlad used to toss him around like a ragdoll as his clone crashed into him. He didn’t let himself dwell on the image though, knowing that thinking too hard right now would lend itself to providing Vlad another opening.

Pressing his hand to the mat he pulled power from his core as Vlad moved once more to rush forward. A thin sheet of ice covered the foam and Vlad misplaced his steps before he could register what had happened sending him off balance. He didn’t quite fall, he’d lived through too many Wisconsin winters for that, but it did make him lose focus momentarily.

Danny was up quickly, both he and his clone disappearing, blinking from existence to reappear behind Vlad, grabbing him by the back on his shirt and trying to fling him out of the ring.

“That was a rather dirty trick, Daniel, faking your distraction to set a trap.” He said as he twisted about in the air, catching himself before he was pushed out of bounds.

“How big would it make that damn ego of yours if I said I learned from the best?” Danny smirked, watching Vlad shift his weight and trying to determine if the other halfa was laying his own trap or actually about to attack.

“Oh immense, badger.” He said, fangs flashing as he committed to an attack, fading from existence before appearing behind Danny to take a swing at him, but Danny was too fast, whipping around to catch his strike, fist pausing in midair as fingers suddenly tightened around his neck.

Another Vlad was beside him, hand squeezing across his windpipe and the Vlad that had been about to punch him square in the jaw disappeared.

Danny knew he should react, knew he should take the next move because if he gave Vlad an inch the man would take a mile, but he didn’t. Instead he thought back to earlier in the day when Jazz had teased him about how often Vlad choked him, about how he must be into it.

Was Vlad into it? It was certainly a signature move of his along with other common attacks for him such as overshadowing and cloning. Fuck was he into those too? All three of those actions could easily be sexual and as much as he hated it Jazz was kind of right, all the beatings he’d taken during puberty had made him a bit… well a bit more attuned to violence in certain areas of his life so to speak.

Vlad squeezed harder, nails needled to points that pressed into his skin and it stung but Danny liked it. Fuck it he liked any time Vlad landed a strike if he was being honest with himself, the burn was nice, the soreness of it was tangible beyond measure and near addictive.

What if he was sore like this for other reasons? What if Vlad’s hands were on him like this, but with a completely different goal in mind?

Danny had paused for too long and was now sprawled out on his back, Vlad taking that mile that Danny had known he would and straddling him, squeezing harder by the second and his weight on him felt different now that Danny was focusing on it.

His face burned scarlet, his body suddenly much too warm, his heart too loud.

Vlad looked over him, casting a shadow as he blocked out the overhead light, grinning down at him and Danny couldn’t help but stare at his teeth. He wanted Vlad to dig them in around his soul line, tug the skin like it was a collar.

“Come on now little badger, it’s far too early to throw in the towel and as much as I enjoy winning I know well enough that you've still got some fight in you.”

Vlad was right, they hadn’t been fighting for nearly as long as they normally would.

Despite this Danny stayed frozen, looking up at Vlad with wide eyes. How hard would it be to go along with the rampant thoughts running through his mind, to tilt his head back and melt into the feeling of Vlad’s fingers around his neck.

Danny wondered if it could be just like their fights, if they could pin each other down and struggle and take. His hand’s shifted to Vlad’s arms, fingers clenching there as he let his more ghostly appearance slip, claws of his own pressing down hard.

Vlad’s expression shifted from gloating to confused as Daniel’s appearance changed. It wasn’t something he did often, careful to keep his form schooled to how he had looked before his faked death with no green tinted skin, pointed ears, longer claws and fangs. He only slipped when he was upset. Had he done something wrong?

“Daniel are you oka—”

Danny shoved him off, baring his fangs as he tackled Vlad back onto the mat, switching their positions, hands moving to choke Vlad and damn did that look nice.

Vlad was taken aback by the sudden movement and by the hands around his throat. Daniel wasn’t one to use such attacks. Vlad struggled to move from Daniel’s grip, attempting to phase but the younger merely phased with him, fingers tightening to the point where Vlad knew it would bruise. He pulled his legs up under him, intent on rolling them over, but as he lifted up, his hips brushing against Daniel’s own he paused and the way Daniel had blushed and frozen beneath him moments ago suddenly made sense as he felt Daniel’s length nudge against him.

He certainly hadn’t expected to come to this bridge so soon, but he wasn’t one to back down from a challenge and if Daniel’s bared fangs didn’t speak of a challenge then he didn’t know what did.

Twin grins scrawled across their faces, the understanding that their fight had changed sparking between them.

Vlad wrenched himself up, tumbling up and over Daniel, grabbing his hands and ripping them from his neck, pinning his wrists above his head, “Well, well little badger,” he hummed, leaning in close to murmur in his ear, “I’d say I’m surprised, but that would be a lie I caught you looking at my fangs earlier.”

Danny flushed at the tease, but the embarrassment was easily pressed down when he remembered that they were still technically fighting and he was absolutely going to win. He leaned up hard and fast, head butting Vlad in the nose, the sound of Vlad yelping in pain pulling a laugh from him.

The two scuffled like that for a while, rolling over and over one another until amidst the fight Danny yanked Vlad forward and kissed him hard, fangs piercing his lip to draw ectoplasm, Danny running his tongue over it greedily, shivering a bit as his core hummed in response.

Vlad was over him, claws running through his hair, pulling him back to expose his neck until finally he set his fangs against Danny’s throat, against his mark and bit down.

Danny hissed at the bright pain that cut across his senses, arms wrapping around Vlad to claw at his back as his hips jerked up in blind instinct.

Vlad ground down against him, drawing a moan from him and Danny rocked back until they’d found a rough and desperate rhythm. Vlad was panting, hand’s taking his hips and pulling him up against his frame harder and harder by the second.

It was overwhelming and fast, stealing Danny’s breath and he ached to tear their clothes off, slide his length against Vlad’s own, but he couldn’t gather his thoughts into enough cohesion to do so, too swept up in a hunger he was unfamiliar with. He hadn’t thought being with someone else would feel like this, or maybe it was just that it was Vlad and his presence was so demanding, so absolute.

He wanted to drown in it, wanted to fall into Vlad, devour completely and be devoured in return. His hands slipped down until he was grabbing Vlad’s ass hard, needing him closer still and Vlad was kissing him again, tongue pushing in and their cores flared, reaching out for each other and it was almost as if they could faze into one another.

Something inside of him screamed, flooding him with a sense of wrongness, a sharp rebellion at the feeling, but Vlad twisted his hip and Danny saw white, crying out and slipping back into the pleasure as his finish took him by surprise.

“Fuck Vlad!” His back arched, thrusting up against Vlad messily as he came, dizzy and needful.

Vlad buried his face in his shoulder, biting there again and this time Danny mirrored the action, fangs sliding so easily into Vlad’s neck, the rush of ectoplasm over his palette making his core react just as it had earlier and Vlad shuddered, thrusts falling out of rhythm with a gasp of his name as he followed close behind.

Pleasure burning its way through him Danny didn’t realize at first that the feeling of falling into Vlad had returned, the need to push forward more and more only growing until he was, Vlad seeming to do the same, taking all of him in as they clung to each other, cores pulsing until—

Pain flashed across his mind as their cores brushed along each other, blending, tumbling end over end until there was no beginning and it hurt.

He screamed.

This was wrong, this was wrong, _this was wrong_!

The parts of him that had welled up so briefly before yelled again, begged to pull away, but he couldn’t. He was already too far gone. He was confused and lost and scared and his core — cores were pulsing and tangling and they shouldn’t, couldn’t, if they did it would—!

Hands clawed up to his hair, why did it hurt‽

Why did what hurt‽

This!

His face pressed into the mat under him. When had he gotten over the mattress? Hadn’t he always been there? He couldn’t remember his head was too full and this was bad, very, very bad.

He could remember so much and nothing at all and it was all overwhelming, loud, he couldn’t breathe, he was drowning, there was ice around him and he was drowning.

No he wasn’t this was just—

No! This was how it happened! Didn't he know that‽

Images flashed across his mind’s eye, violent, quick, and as painful as wrapping his hand around a branding iron, the memory burning through his flesh until he was melting.

The Nasty Burger exploding, his family and friends dying, the fear on their faces as they’d realized what was going to happen right before it did, knowing they were going to die.

The world destroyed, his friends crushed beneath rubble, floating through the Ghost Zone, powerless and alone.

His voice, his laugh.

Coming home and having to pretend everything was fine for years.

Years and years alone in that hospital bed, watching a fan run endless circles in a silver metal box on the outside roof, the vibration reaching through the window to burrow its way into his skull in the dead of night where its whine forced him awake.

Needles pressing into his skin over and over, he wasn’t getting better, there were so many machines, so many tubes, the nurse checked on him every hour on the hour. He was so tired.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept, stumbling past his parents, no they were his friends? Right..?

Moving past them to collapse into bed, into a seat at school, into a desk, he fell asleep everywhere it seemed.

He looked in the mirror, looked at the dark circles, at his fangs.

Fangs?

What was he becoming‽

A monster, always, always a monster.

He tore away from it, slipped over tubes, collapsed to the ground. Mirrors weren’t allowed in his hospital room anymore, they were easy to break and sharp and if he lost enough blood he could pass out and finally sleep.

He didn’t know why he woke up.

He was tired of waking up.

Everything hurt.

No one fucking saw it, no one understood. He’d tried to explain that living like this wasn’t living! He couldn’t do it, he was going to become a monster, again, all over and worse this time! He had to do something! He was scared!

His body was lifeless beneath him, eyes glazed over, blood on his hands, ice like knives around his skin, in his throat. His head was bashed in, he couldn’t hardly think through it. A needle pressed into his neck, god he hated needles. The sink counter was beneath him, he caught his reflection in the mirror. Wasn’t he not supposed to have mirrors in the hospital, he could have sworn. He didn’t look right, that was new.

No it wasn’t he always looked wrong.

Everything ached and he still couldn’t breathe, he’d been on the counter, but he wasn’t anymore he was on a table now and his ribs were broken and his mom, Maddie, was reaching in, in in, touching his core!

His core!

Something was wrong with his core! He remembered now! What was it? He couldn’t think, he couldn’t focus, everything was so loud. The knowledge of what was happening slipped like smoke through his curled and desperate fingers. There were too many memories, too many feelings, all swelling up inside him, one by one, laying over each other and leaving him lost.

He was going to be sick, he was sick. He shuddered, sweat broke out across his forehead, arms wrapping tight around himself, squeezing hard. A keen crawled its way up his throat, high, desperate, choking around the lump there.

Why was he alone..?

He was always alone!

He had been alone in the hospital, in his home, alone for years! He had no one, no one wanted him, he’d burned too many bridges!

No!

Not anymore, didn’t he have people now, have someone? A soulmate. That word sounded right, but he couldn’t think and he was alone and in pain now, right now, and he couldn’t understand why.

If he had someone then where were they? Why had they abandoned him? Couldn’t they see he was in pain? Didn’t they know he was suffering, they should understand. Why had they left him behind just like everyone else?

Why wasn’t he ever good enough...

Dan cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys uwu
> 
> Hope you like the cliffhanger <3
> 
> Anyway, I love writing this type of thing, taking a singular consciousness and pluraling it.  
> If you've read my other writing you know that’s a theme I like to toy with. Nothing like shoving one brain into another, making them both experience a rush of thoughts, memories, and feelings resulting in horrid confusion!  
> This last scene, well, the ending of it, is a lot like a scene from my other fic Nest of Wrens lol I’m just a slut for the fear of two people becoming one and I haven’t found a phantom fic that dealt with like the exact moment of Dan's creation in that way. If you have and you can find it, please direct me to it I will love you forever 💖
> 
> Also, y’all I’ve written so much demon sex for my other fandom that writing sexy times without teeth and claws just feels so so weird. I’m all about those monster qualities what can I say.


	17. The inevitable we.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year! 
> 
> I hope everyone likes this chapter because it’s an important one! This chapter is the last one! Well, it’s the last of the major narrative chapters. There will be an epilogue or two of course because I love epilogues, but for like the main story story, this is the close.
> 
> Tw in this chapter includes  
> \- self harm/ mentions of self harm  
> \- suicidal ideation  
> \- gore  
> \- depression

  
Dan’s breathing was harsh, coming in quick, wheezed bursts that made his lungs scream.

He pressed his face harder and harder into the sparring mat, wishing he’d push hard enough to cave his forehead inward and usher in blissful darkness.

No, he’d just wake back up. He always woke back up. That was useless. His skull had been split before and he’d woken back up alone.

His clawed hands slipped from his scalp, wrapping around his throat, scraping inward until ectoplasm coated his fingers, slick and acrid. He wanted to dig in, in, in to stop the burning working its way from his chest to his brain. He wanted to stop himself before he hurt someone because he was going to hurt them, hurt everyone! That’s all he ever did!

No! He was getting better, he’d been better for a while and he wanted to be.

Him? No. Dan hurt people.

He wanted to pull the skin from his neck, wrap his fingers around his bond li—

Dan paused in his movements, the ectoplasm continuing to sluice down his palms and to the mat. What did he mean he wanted to wrap his fingers around his bond line? He didn’t have a bond line.

Yes he did!

He shook his head, no, he couldn’t remember one. Images flickered through his mind, pictures of himself floating above a mess of rubble. He hadn’t had a line then. He hadn’t completed one before he’d formed. Sam and Tuck had died. He’d killed them!

Samantha and Tucker? He wasn’t bonded with them. They were bonded with each other.

“Shut up.” Dan muttered to himself, pressing the images of his dead friends back in his mind. But they weren’t dead! They were fine. They wouldn’t be, not if he didn’t tear his own throat out! Hadn’t he already decided that sort of thing wouldn’t work? He would just wake up again.

But he’d made a promise! He’d — he’d if he ever lost control again he’d find a way! He’d said that, he’d asked for that and he trusted him!

“Agh!” Why couldn’t he fucking think‽

Ice flared out around him in a rush, coating the entire gym until it shone crystalline. Dan looked up at the workout room. Oh yeah, he was here. He hadn’t thought about his surroundings beyond the mat under him once the pain had started.

Glancing around he caught his reflection in a stalagmite of ice, saw Dan sitting there, face coated with frozen tears.

Dan didn’t cry.

Dan destroyed. Killed. He was violent. He took. He didn’t sob against the floor and look lost in ice mirrors.

Part of him wanted to scream at his reflection, jerk messily away, scramble back and revolt. He hated himself! His red eyes and sharp teeth frightened him. He wanted to close his eyes. Why had he even opened them to begin with? He wanted to press his face back into the mat and choke on the disgust and terror that crawled up his spine like fire up a drought ridden tree.

But he didn’t look away, couldn’t, somehow entranced. This was him? His hand lifted brushing away the gore from his neck, tracking his own movements closely. There beneath the ectoplasm two bond lines shone through, one green, one pink.

_That’s Vlad’s line!_

_That’s Daniel’s line!_

The thoughts burst across the front of his consciousness simultaneously, ripped free from where he’d pressed so much of the too loud information back.

Confusion filled him, where was Vlad? Where was Daniel?

Right here, that’s how Dan worked.

That’s how Dan worked!

His eyes widened as he stared at himself…

At them!

They’d been together on the mat, their cores had touched each other and then the pain had come and he’d formed! Exactly, their cores had just merged; he'd tried to think that earlier.

“Vla—niel?” He tried to say his, their, names and it didn’t quite work. He tilted his head. Could he stop looking? He didn’t like looking. But it was fascinating! No it wasn’t. Couldn’t he at least turn human? The skin, ears, fang, claws, he hated all of it.

“Maybe?” Dan mumbled, looking down at his body. Dan was a ghost through and through, he didn’t have a human side, but he did now, did here, he could feel it so he should at least try to find out. He frowned, curiosity killed the cat.

It sure had. Twice.

He tugged at his core, no cores, definitely two. Well, two, but they were one. Both elements were there, ice and fire together. It was all very interesting. Terrifying!

Rings formed around him, one black, one white, washing over him and then Dan was human and he never had been, not in any of his memories. He looked at himself, at the man he’d become. He had long black hair with a stark streak of white down the middle and blue eyes that started with light highlights, darkening towards the edges . He looked like a skunk. No, like a badger! It was cute.

Okay, setting one thing straight, Dan was not cute.

Oh come on.

No.

He closed his eyes, this was getting too damn confusing he needed to differentiate his thoughts better. He tried to talk again, “I… we need to separate our thoughts.”

A beat went by as he focused, a feeling of agreement washing over him and Dan tried to untangle himself a bit, similar to how he’d had two separate yet simultaneous thoughts a few moments before.

“Vlad?”

“Daniel?”

“We...we, we made Dan!” His breathing picked up again, but then a wave of calm washed over him.

“This obviously isn’t the same Dan.”

“Don’t you ‘ _obviously_ ’ me!”

His hands waved in front of him, “I’m still conscious in here Daniel!”

“Agh this is weird!”

Dan looked at himself in the ice again, stumbling to his feet. Moving with two minds was incredibly confusing. “I don’t know, I think it’s fascinating.” Vlad said.

“And I think you already thought that earlier.” Danny said, their smile turning into a frown, “Can I, we, whatever, all this ice sucks, can we not be in the gym.”

“Do you have a desire to kill people?”

At first Danny wanted to be offended but then it hit him that they really should check their control. There was certainly a lot of pain inside of him, his and Vlad’s less palatable memories did not mix well together and he had been terrified, but he didn’t feel alone anymore and that had been the worst part of it. “I do not.”

His left foot moved forward and he stumbled a bit, tripping over his own feet. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Perhaps we should make important physical decisions out loud?”

“Yeah no shit, Vlad.”

“I’d intended for us to walk to the kitchen.”

“Kitchen, yeah, we can do that.” Danny said, looking down at their feet as they started to walk again. It was harder than standing up, putting one foot in front of the other far more confusing than either of them had expected. He looked like a newborn deer and that was a thought Danny had never thought he’d have about Dan. “This is like the worst game of QWOP ever.”

“What’s QWOP?”

“You literally have my brain in your brain, look it up.”

Danny felt Vlad consciousness merge further with his own again, the separation between them blurring and mixing and he didn’t like that at all because that felt more like Dan and he absolutely did not want that. “Wait, wait stop, stay separate. It’s just a video game.”

Vlad’s mind pulled back and they continued to make their way messily to the kitchen, “I’m surprised we managed to shapeshift,” he supplied after they tripped for the third time.

Danny sighed as they stopped walking, falling tiredly into a seat at the counter. “Please tell me you know how to change back.”

“I do not.”

“Vlad!”

“I’ve never merged with anyone, just you Daniel.”

“Then why the fuck did you do it! You knew Dan was us!”

Hurt spiked across his senses and he forced himself to calm down as Vlad spoke again, “I didn’t mean to… I’ve never been with a ghost. I thought the merging was more of a conscious decision.”

“Is it going to happen every time?” That would kind of put a damper on things.

“We’ll learn to control it better.”

“So we just need to split. Any idea on where to figure out how?”

A few images of Ghostwriter flashed across his mind and Danny groaned, Dan burying his face in his hands, “No, not him I hate that guy.”

“I know, but he has a library there might be information.”

If Vlad thought he was going to spend time as Dan reading up on how to split them he was dead wrong. Danny didn’t want to spend anymore time in this body than he needed to, each second brought him closer to another bout of anxiety. “What about Clockwork! He’s an ancient, he should know!”

“If we can find him.” Vlad grumbled, hand running through their shared hair before he paused, a pleasurable shiver running through him before they did it again, this time on purpose, “We could have some fun with this you know.”

Danny ripped their hand away, scrambling to get up only to topple over onto the floor and yell in frustration, “Agh! Vlad we are not thinking about sex while we are Dan! You saw some of the memories! This isn’t something to fuck around with! We are going to unmerge and then never, ever merge again!”

Vlad was quiet for a long while and Danny could feel him press back into them and Danny hated it because although mixing made him feel more like Dan, Vlad becoming nothing but a whisper in the back of their mind felt even closer. Dan’s active consciousness had been all him, Vlad silenced inside him, bound and gagged, made less and perhaps nonexistent.

“Come back… please,” he asked, reaching out for Vlad’s mind in his own. It was odd focusing inward, introspection wasn’t much of a strength of his and this was like a game of hide and go meditation.

It was weirdly intimate to brush his consciousness along Vlad’s own, to feel him in that way and at first he was worried about seeing more of Vlad’s painful past, but those feelings didn’t come. Instead Danny felt something different, felt phantom fingers drift across his throat, the memory of looking down into tired, tear stained, bright blue eyes encompassing him.

“V-Vlad.” The name slipped past their lips as he watched himself smile through Vlad’s eyes, watched as their bond completed from his soulmate’s point of view. The feelings that bloomed in his chest were deep and complex, love, happiness, embarrassment, awkwardness, confusion, guilt, worry. Vlad felt so much and Danny wanted to quiet him, not to shut him up this time, but to soothe and reach out.

He offered up his own memory of the moment, of how relieved he was that it had been sweet and normal and not traumatic, how he’d laughed, how much contentment had filled him.

Their core burned brightly.

“I’m here, Daniel,” Vlad said and although it was a bit overwhelming for them to both be in control of their body Danny preferred it.

“Stay.”

A small smile graced their face and Danny knew for certain he’d never witnessed Dan express such a gentle emotion.

“I’m staying.”

They sat there on the kitchen floor for a while, looking up at the ceiling, watching the moonlight drift through the window. They’d forgotten it was nighttime. They’d spent a nice long day at Fentonworks. They’re memories of the day exchanged and Vlad laughed. It was beyond odd to hear Dan laugh genuinely, but it wasn’t awful.

“It’s nice.” Vlad supplied, but Danny still shook his head.

“He took so much from me… I don’t want to be him.”

Vlad didn’t like the sentiment very much. Danny could feel how much being one entity warmed him. It calmed much of his fears about being abandoned again. If he was two people made whole then he could set those old and constant worries away.

“I told you I was going to stay, Vlad. I’m here too.”

Gratitude spiraled through them and Dan couldn’t help but smile again.

“Want to stand?” Danny asked and Dan gathered his legs up under him. They needed to get down to the lab, open the portal, and shift forms. Normally that would be an easy task, but now it felt like a mountain they’d need to struggle up.

“If we phase first, we can turn intangible and float to the lab.” Vlad suggested, but Danny wasn’t so sure.

“What if we become tangible again part way through and get stuck in a wall?”

That would be inconvenient. He could imagine Danielle showing up to check on them and seeing him halfway through the floor. No, Danielle couldn’t see him, what if hurt her, what if he lashed out and it set him off and he destroyed the town, the earth, everyone, everything, all of it! What if h—”

_Breathe!_

_Fuck._

Dan drug in a deep breath, reminding himself to separate out his thoughts, peeling Danny and Vlad apart gently.

His hand was on his chest now, feeling the movement of their ribs, of their core. It was okay. They were okay.

“We get more singular when we’re stressed.” Vlad said, quiet, trying to stay calm once their breathing had regulated.

“We can’t freak out.” Danny agreed, focusing in on himself as an individual who just so happened to be sharing a co-created body. He wasn’t Dan. He was Danny and Vlad was with him.

“We should walk.”

And so they did, one foot in front of the other and they were starting to get the hang of it. The stairs were a pain. It had been easier to go up them on their way out of the gym. Going down felt like repeatedly trying to fall in calculated increments that would lead to a bigger, uncontrolled fall if they miscalculated. Who gave stairs the right to be so annoying?

Eventually they were at the lab, staring at the portal before pressing the button on its side to open it, looking out into the swirling world beyond.

“Okay, I’m going ghost.” Danny said, his ring lighting up around him as Vlad’s ring did the same, the tug at their cores an interesting feeling as they shifted to ghost form.

Vlad laughed, “You haven’t said going ghost in a while, badger.”

Hearing the word badger in Dan’s voice was a bit disconcerting… but also sort of nice and that part was extremely worrying.

“It’s a grounding technique.” Danny explained, although he knew Vlad had probably figured that out years ago, “Helps me focus on the feeling of my powers”

“Your little battle cry.” The purr Vlad put into their voice, the tease, made their cheeks hot.

“Shut up.”

Dan hummed, pushing through the portal and stepping out into the Ghost Zone.

They were falling.

_Fuck! Language! God I’m worrying about language right now of all times? We. Yeah, yeah we; we fucking forgot to practice flying!_

They spun around and around, trying to remember how flying felt but they’d both been flying for years now. It was second nature, it was hard to describe. It was like trying to explain breathing. How had they figured this out in the first place? Trial and error. Not a lot of time for that while they were spiraling through the Ghost Zone. Ancients they were dizzy, they might j—

“Oof!”

“Hey!”

They crashed into someone, hands clenched around the front of their suit, hauling them up, forcing them to stop falling.

“What the hell do you think yo-”

“Emb—Ms. McLain!”

Ember faltered, blue hair bobbing to and fro as she narrowed her eyes at him, tilting her head a bit, “Baby pop? Plas? That you in there?”

“Yes!” Danny answered, Vlad nodding their head.

“You merged?” Her gaze lowered to the bright green and pink lines across Dan’s throat, “And bonded? You two have been busy.”

“Well the merging was a bit of an accident, you see we wer—”

“Vlad she doesn’t need the details!”

Ember laughed, “Oh man it’s hilarious to watch you talk to yourself. You look stupid as hell.”

“Hey!” Dan wasn’t sure which one of them had said that.

“Why haven’t you let the merge finish anyway, it’d be easier on you.”

“Finish?” Danny asked.

“Well yeah, you’re two ghosts in one body. Don’t you want to be one ghost in one body? Most merges do that, it’s less confusing.”

Danny shook their head hard, “No. I don’t want to be one ghost.” He didn’t want to be Dan.

“We’re trying to seperate.”

“Well, you two could still split after you finished the merge, it doesn’t have to be permanent, just easier while you’re together,” Ember let them go and they started to fall again before she reached out and grabbed them, “Okay, okay, woah, you need to figure out how to float first before anything else.”

“It’s harder than I, we, remember it.”

“How do you two fly?”

Dan shrugged, “We don’t know, we just kind of do.”

Danny racked their brains, “I used to think ‘I want to be over there’ and then I’d, well, you know, get over there.”

“Well then do that.” Ember said, pointing to a nearby outcropping of rock, “Think, I want to go over there.”

They did and it was a bit like getting their legs under them but far less physical. They started to float and Ember let them go as they managed to fly over to the outcropping, their flight pattern messy, full of unwarranted dips, but there.

“Ey Baby Plas you did it!”

“Baby Plas?” Dan asked, frowning a bit, testing out their abilities and managing to turn upside down then back up right.

“Well yeah, what am I supposed to call you, Dip-mius, Plas-stick? Does your merge have a name?”

“No.” Danny answered before Vlad could.

He felt a brush of comfort run along their core, Vlad quietly reassuring him.

“Well you might want to think of one, it’d make things easier.”

“We’re separating and not re-merging so it won’t matter much,” Danny said as Ember floated over to him, arms crossed over her chest.

“You sound pretty stuck on that idea,” she said and Dan nodded even though Vlad himself wasn’t too fond of the idea. Still, if it made Daniel more comfortable that they split and remain so Vlad would be fine with it. Or at least, he'd learn to be. Danny offered up a quiet thanks for the sentiment. “I know how to undo it, I can tell ya if you want.”

“Yes!”

“Wait—”

What? Confusion filled Dan for a split second before Vlad explained.

If they merged fully and then learned how to split afterwards it would be easier to split if they ever lost control.

Oh.

Danny was afraid of what fulling becoming Dan could entail, but Vlad had a point. If they could pull themselves apart from being singular they would have a better chance of doing it if they ever snapped. Practice made perfect. Although… here didn’t feel like the best place to try that.

Clockwork had an extra Fenton thermos just in case and they had been heading there anyway, perhaps it was better to just continue with their first plan, finish the merge there and then split. If something went wrong Clockwork could capture them until they managed to pry themselves apart.

Dan nodded, “I’m just going to head over to Clockwork’s place… we’ve got some questions to ask him.”

Ember looked them over for a moment, clearly confused, but then she shrugged, “Whatever you need to get yourself in order, Baby Plas, just don’t go crashing into me again. You’re lucky I’m in a good mood, it doesn’t look like you could take a fight.”

Probably not.

“Thank you for your help Ms. McLain.” Vlad said with a nod of their head and Ember waved them off.

“Yeah, yeah just hurry up and scram okay.”

They did as she asked, floating away and through the Zone, finding that it got easier with each passing second. Eventually they caught sight of Clockwork's domain, meaning that the ancient wanted to be found.

Dan hoped he could offer some guidance.

Moving through the other ghost’s territory they came to the heart of the clock tower, the Zone casting an eerie glow through the large window clock face, the shadows of the hands clawing their way across the floor of the large room.

Dan paused for a moment, looking up through the glass. The Zone didn’t have a sun, but it did seem lighter further up, the light shining down on him as he lifted his gaze. He got the sense that the space was bigger than it was, bigger than it ever could be. It was the feeling of stepping into a holy place alone, finding no worship, but basking in the touch of something more, the quiet speaking to life an understanding that simply was. It coiled around him, gentle and open, brushing fingers through his hair and whispering unintelligibly.

He wanted to bask in it, sit in the moment like he’d sat in the moonlit kitchen.

“Dan.”

Fear shattered the silence, Dan whipping around to face Clockwork, lifting his hands in a quick surrender.

“Clockwork! It’s...I mean, I, we—”

Vlad took the reins, quelling the storm that rose in Danny’s half of their mind, the younger halfa worried that Clockwork would attempt to attack and cage them within the thermos despite his calm demeanor. Clockwork knew perhaps better than anyone how violent and dangerous Dan was, he wasn’t about to let him escape.

“Daniel and I merged accidentally, we are still conscious and passive.” He started but Clockwork only nodded

“Yes, and you’re here to finish the merge so you can learn to separate even while completely singular.” He said, “I am well aware, my home was here waiting for you, was it not?”

“You’ll help?” Danny asked, hopeful now that his worries had been dispelled.

“Sit.” He instructed, waving his staff to the center of the room, “It’ll take focus.”

“If we snap use the thermos.” Danny said as they moved their body to sit.

“Oh I intend to.” Clockwork said, moving about the circular room to observe they knew not what. Perhaps just waiting to watch the inevitable evil grow and consume them. “Merging fulling can be overwhelming, your minds will mix, memories will join.”

Dan nodded, that had been what had caused the pain, their minds blending to reveal the anguish they both buried as deeply as possible, the silence they choked back into their lungs, letting it sting like broken glass against their ribs.

Danny was scared, Vlad was too, although for a different reason. He worried about the pain, but also Daniel loosing control amidst his own fear and panic. “It’ll be okay,” he whispered, “We’re different people from the ones who made the first Dan.”

“Plasmius is right.” Clockwork agreed as Dan’s hands met, fingers tangling trying to calm and be calm all at once. “But, as with everything, there remains a chance of the worst, so I will watch. Now, focus inward to your cores, remember how it felt to start the merge, how it feels to slip further into it accidentally, then don’t resist.”

Dan closed his eyes, taking two deep breaths in and out, holding them for an eight count.

It had felt like falling, like the peak of finish, overwhelming, an edge that once tipped, was tumbled into dizzily. It had been an urge to consume dressed in the desire to be devoured, seen in all respects, known. It had been intimate and vulnerable, it still was, but in those first moments it had been painfully bare and open. There were parts of them that despite everything, they didn’t want each other to see. Being exposed was a terror all its own, one they knew well and detested.

 _Focus_.

They pulled their minds inward to their core, reaching out and at first it was like in the kitchen, the both of them offering up the gentler memories, moments of happiness.

They thought of the stars in the Ghost Zone, of playing the piano, sparring, the moments before they’d merged when they’d been together.

Danny saw himself waking up on Vlad’s lab table, felt the realization of love wash over him.

Vlad saw himself smiling, felt safe, felt the knowledge that someone was saving a space for him, offering a home.

They felt their hands intertwined, their lips together, breath mingling on the gym floor.

But they knew it would take more than that to become each other. A person was not composed simply of their best qualities and happiest moments.

They weren’t sure who dipped into the darker memories first, but pain streaked quick and hot across their consciousness. They gasped, Maddie’s hands were above them, reaching in towards their mouth, pliers clamping around a back tooth and pulling.

He remembered screaming, he remembered the feeling of it, the taste of ectoplasm.

He was falling, spiraling, he couldn’t fly! Idiot he should have known better than to get so high up, he’d just left the hospital he didn’t have much practice. He crashed through the tree line, trying to turn intangible, but his powers were hard to control. A branch hit him across the face, piercing from one cheek to another as he was jerked to a stop. He spit up teeth, in shock and trembling.

Lightning arced across the sky, electricity sparking through his body. The building under him came up so fast, his legs shattered, bones shoving up, up, up through his body. He tumbled into a bush, into branches, he hated branches. Everything hurt.

Vlad was above him, annoyed.

Daniel was below him, angry.

Vlad’s hands were on, shocking him. Didn’t he know how much he hated being shocked? He smelled of ozone, of the portal.

He smiled for his friends, he stepped into the portal, why? Why had he done that? Why was he so stupid?

He was being electrocuted again, no, for the first time and he was screaming. He could feel himself breaking, he smelled of cooked meat, like the back of a grill and burnt hair. He was sobbing.

Restraints ached around his legs and wrists, his back bowed, the radiation poisoning seared through him, he could feel it in his blood, melting his veins. He was screaming

Dan fell over, eyes shut tightly, teeth gritting so hard he thought they might shatter. It wouldn’t be the first time. He shook like a leaf, the tears welling up in his eyes scalding as they slipped over his skin.

“It hurts…” He choked out, feeling all of their pain at once, feeling alone, terrified, betrayed, rejected. How could anyone stand to live like this?

“Let it.”

Clockwork's voice was too calm. Didn’t he see how much this hurt? Why did he sound like everything was okay? It wasn’t! Nothing of what had happened to him was okay!

“I don’t want to, I— it…” He wanted to press his claws through his chest, splay his ribs and pull out his core. Why had he suffered like this?

“Pain is part of the experience, as integral as love and joy.”

_Bullshit!_

His mind screamed in a violent revolt. That was complete and utter bullshit! He hadn’t done anything to deserve this! How could pain be necessary‽ How could Clockwork just tell him that this was normal‽ This was not normal! This anguish was not part of a normal life, death, any of it!

“There is nothing to gain from running from your sufferings. But there is strength in facing and understanding them, in accepting them as having happened and learning together.”

He squeezed himself tightly, struggling for air, drowning beneath the weight of it, of his life. He wanted to burrow down, sink into the material of Clockwork’s domain and simply never return. Nothing was better than this, ceasing was easier. Why did he have to stay? Why did he have to wake up?

Through it all Clockwork continued to speak, slow and steady as Dan cried, as bile pushed at his throat and sweat drenched him, covered him in goosebumps and set him on fire.

“Pain is natural. It is normal to hurt. Pushing those feelings away does not prevent or solve them, only gives them room to fester, so let it hurt.”

He didn’t want to! He didn’t want anyone to see! He wanted to shut everything out because everyone else just made it hurt more! He was supposed to keep people safe, but he couldn’t! He was supposed to be a hero, but he felt like this! What hero wanted to die like this‽ What hero wanted to numb himself like this‽

The farther he shoved the feelings away the less he had to look at them. They were bright as the sun and he was blinded. Everyone else would turn away, had turned away and there weren’t walls big enough to prevent the pain of people leaving him again, over and over.

This pain was too heavy. His shoulders couldn’t bear the world. He was crumbling, slipping, unraveling at the edges.

“Let yourself cry for what’s lost. Let yourself grieve. It’s okay to, you don’t need permission.”

Grief…

The word spiraled around him, tangling him up in a web and he remembered… he remembered looking down at a body.

Daniel’s.

He was so… so angry…

His face was red. He was talking to Daniel’s body, so much pain filled his chest and he directed it onto others. Jack and Maddie were hurting. Jasmine was hurting. Samantha and Tucker were hurting. Danielle was hurting.

But what about him?

Was this… grief?

Jack looked up at him sadly.

_"We all process it differently.”_

Mourning… he’d denied it then but he’d been in mourning for years. He’d missed Daniel. He’d kept looking. He’d loved him even then and Vlad hadn’t seen it…

The memories came easier now, as they swallowed that truth down, accepted it, the pain waned and they both spoke up.

_“I watched everyone I loved die, watched myself kill them and had to pretend I was okay”_

_“My two best friends left me, I loved them and they left me.”_

They didn’t dig in, didn’t pause for too long. Merely took it in and breathed, giving one another acceptance.

_“I died when I was fourteen. I was never a child.”_

_“I thought I’d found my bond mates. I thought I wasn’t alone anymore.”_

_“My friends didn’t see how much I was hurting, I wasn’t strong enough to reach out to them… I should have.”_

_“I was scared. I rotted alone and unwanted. The radiation was agony. I hurt myself just to feel something else._

_“I stopped telling people about the nightmares.”_

_“I spent years hating ghosts, wanting to hunt them... then decades more hating myself.”_

_“Being a hero took so much from me, I didn’t know how much more I could give.”_

_“I lost track of myself, of how many new lines I drew in front of myself and promised I wouldn’t cross, only to step right over them.”_

_“I lost track of how many times I was hurt, how many bones I’d broken, of how many times I’d been so scared I became sick.”_

_“I hurt my friends, endangered lives, created clones… not all of them made it.”_

_“I didn’t want to make it.”_

_“I didn’t want to make it.”_

How many times had they thought those last thoughts? How many times had they fantasized about ceasing? How many hours had they curled up in bed, too heavy to move? How many showers had they spent on the floor? How many meals had been flavorless? How many days had been spent in static? 

_“I hurt you, Daniel.”_

The thought was softer than the others before it, the emotions were too. It was quiet and sorrowful, slowing everything down.

_“I hurt you too, Vladimir.”_

_“Sometimes I liked it.”_

That was hard to admit, especially now that they knew how each other felt, that they were soulmates. Soulmates were supposed to be gentle with one another, not messy, not at each other’s throats, not filled with a past like theirs.

_“I liked hurting you too… I liked to tease you for being alone, I shouldn’t have.”_

_“It’s alright… I’m not alone anymore.”_

_“You’re not. I’m staying. I’m always staying, I promise.”_

Their cores converged further, wrapping around one another completely as Vlad and Danny faded away, as they took each other in, the spaces they had made for each other in their lives overlapping until they were singular.

A moment of quiet settled over him and he let himself sit with it.

* * *

Dan sat up slowly after a long while, wiping the mess from his face as the pain faded, replaced by a gentle, but steady reassurance. It was still scary and new, but he didn’t feel centimeters away from a spiral, from snapping and hurting others.

His breathing grew steady and he flexed his fingers, slow, in and out, watching them press against his palms.

“Dan.” Clockwork said after a few more minutes slipped by of their own accord, Dan getting the bearings on what it felt like to be him, keeping his new consciousness whole instead of pulling away from it as he’d been doing since he had formed.

He grimaced slightly, pulling his legs under him before laying down on his back, looking up through the massive clock face. The floor was nice. He didn’t want to sink into it at the moment. He might later. The pain might return, but Dan knew it could be set aside now. It wasn’t that it left completely, he doubted it ever would, but he could think around it and that was a start.

“I still don’t like the name.” He decided, finding it bitter even now.

“Then change it.” Clockwork said simply, stepping close to lean over him.

“What?”

“Change it, you can.”

He could? Just like that?

“The idea of the stable self, of the unshifting self is a myth. You can change, you will change, over and over again, so discard the name. You have that power.”

He’d never thought of it that way. Well, technically he’d just begun existing, but the separate halves of him hadn’t thought of it.

He sat up once more, this time drawing himself to stand fully. Moving was so much easier now. He didn’t have to think about it anymore.

“You sound so sure…” he said, doubt sparking within him. The Dan he had known had been so concrete in his identity, so forthright with it and its violence. He was a consistent force. He didn’t change, he just was. He was an all encompassing terror, a pressure, a presence.

Clockwork smiled like he knew what Dan was thinking and perhaps he did, waving his staff to summon small windows into the worlds beyond his domain. “Show me one person who has not been set back or experienced growth, one person whose circumstances have not impacted them. I’ll wait.”

Dan looked, watched as people went to work, came home, studied, made discoveries, experienced joy and loss and love and anguish. The world was all around him, all the experiences of living, of growing and becoming, the metamorphosis of life.

“Change is inevitable, but how you change is not.”

He knew that. Deep down both of his halves knew that. Perhaps it was cheesy, or naive or what have you, but he’d heard once that you couldn’t reverse the things that happened to you, but you could control your reaction and that’s all Dan was, a reaction.

“Oh…” He looked up to Clockwork with a deep admiration and the ghost’s hand found his shoulder.

“Phantom has spent so long thinking about who Dan could be that he has forgotten the most important word within that idea. Could.”

He nodded, he understood that now. He was Dan and he was inevitable, but what that meant wasn’t guaranteed. He had always existed in some capacity and he always would, even if he ceased to be manifest beyond this meeting. He was Vlad and Danny’s thoughts, their emotions, and he was just as much a part of them as they were of him and that was okay.

It was okay to feel.

It was okay to grieve, to scream and cry and ask why. It was okay to feel guilty. It was okay to not want to feel guilty anymore, to want to be happy, and to be scared and unsure.

It was okay to get better on his own time, to take the rest he needed and be gentle with himself if he slipped and to seek out support.

“Dan, the two of you, could destroy the world, but you could also protect it, could do anything, that is the nature of possibility. Nothing but change is set in stone. Do not run from this truth, it can be frightening, but it is best embraced. It is what makes existence meaningful.”

His gaze was drawn back to the windows, the swirling portals. He watched people age and die, watched the funerals and the weddings and the births. There were love confessions and news of loss in the night, happiness and pain living side by side.

It was natural to hurt. Clockwork had told him so. He didn’t need permission. He didn’t need to be a different kind of person. He was enough, whatever ‘he’ meant at any given time, and he owed it to himself to allow room for sorrow in its healthier ways. He would say he’d earned that catharsis, but that catharsis wasn’t something anyone earned. It was inherent in the self.

There was nothing to prove.

“Thank you…” He said gently, meaning that deeply and he wanted to say more but the look in Clockwork’s eyes told him he didn’t need anything else, motioning for Dan to take in another window that appeared beside him, the others fading away as he watched himself leer over Danny and his family, gaze cruel. “Is he gone now?”

Clockwork shook his head and the hope that had welled up inside of Dan fell, replaced by dread. However, before the feeling could fully take root Clockwork spoke again, “He never will be, not fully, I cannot lie about the nature of chance, but he is unlikely, yes.”

The window rippled, the image changing from one of destruction to moments of peace. 

He saw himself relaxing with Danielle, playing video games with her on the mansion’s living room couch. He saw himself laughing with Sam and Tucker, working alongside Jack and Maddie, having dinner with Jazz and Valerie. It was so odd to see Dan interacting domestically with his friends and family, to see him smile and laugh and see them laugh too. It was especially weird to see Sam and Tuck relaxed considering they had been there for the original Dan encounter and knew as well as he did how dangerous he was.

Watching them accept him, take him in and smile with him soothed his nerves further. It made his growth feel more concrete and seen. This was a future he wanted, one he was more than willing to work towards and had been for years now.

“Would you still like to learn to seperate?” Clockwork asked and he nodded, turning away from the portal.

If he knew how to both form and separate then he could come and go as Vlad and Danny pleased and he liked the sound of that, of being all of them whenever they wanted, living together, happy and for once, unafraid.

“You’ll need to focus on your core, feeling the separate entities there, picture them unraveling until you are Phantom and Plasmius once more.” Clockwork began as Dan closed his eyes again, knowing now that feeling his core out came easier when he cut out distractions, “It won’t be as complex given that you are passive and wish on all levels to pull away, but be warned if Plasmius and Phantom are not in total agreement the separation will be far more difficult.”

“I’ll practice with it.” Dan said, reassuring both Clockwork and himself. Vlad and Danny could trade off not wanting to unmerge and they could get a feeling for that fight, challenge one another to a sparring match of a different kind. Dan found himself looking forward to the training.

For now though he wanted to be separate. It had been a long day.

Doing as Clockwork instructed, he felt his core split and untangle. Both halves of himself willing retracted until he fell away, consciousness separating to spiral outwards. It was a bit dizzying but before they knew it they were two again and their bodies reformed.

Danny opened his eyes, finding that his hands were tangled with Vlad’s own. He looked up and Vlad smiled, squeezing their fingers. “Hey…”

“Hello.” Vlad chuckled, leaning closer so their foreheads could meet in a tender embrace, “It’s nice to see you.”

“You’re cheesy as hell you know that.” Danny laughed, hands leaving Vlad’s own to wrap around his shoulders, hugging him close.

“I think a certain half ghost has told me that before, yes.”

Their lips met in a chaste kiss, their cores humming happily at the contact.

“Thank you, CW, for everything.” Danny said as they pulled apart, looking over to his friend who gave him a soft smile.

“It was a long road, but you both got there as I knew you could.”

“You need to learn to stop being so cryptic.” Vlad grumbled, even though both Danny and Clockwork could hear the undercurrent of gratitude in his voice.

“I’ve got to find my entertainment somewhere don’t I?” He answered, “You have a flair for the dramatic yourself Plasmius so you’ve no room to talk.”

“He’s got you there.” Danny hummed, fingers finding Vlad’s hair, running through it gently. He was tired, he wanted to sink into Vlad’s bed, feel his soulmate's heartbeat through his chest as he fell asleep. “Can we go home?”

Vlad once again caught how Daniel called the mansion home and held it close.

They moved to float out through the clock face, waving goodbye to Clockwork as they did, offering up a few more quick words of thanks as they began to make their way back to the portal, to the world and Amity.

“Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh! This is the end of the main narrative! Isn’t that wild?  
> Again, there will be epilogue chapters, those will probably have shorter scenes and there will be time skips, that sort of thing. We gotta see how the boys are doing after all they've been through T^T
> 
> And also yes, the epilogues will have sex. 
> 
> This has been a wild ride though, all the interaction from the fandom has been incredible and I love all of you guys so much!  
> Also, I do have a Danny phantom side blog. Goodra-jauw on tumblr. I just reblog nice art I find lol, but if ya wanna follow u can ^-^/)
> 
> Thanks for putting up with all the angst and cliffhangers <3
> 
> Here’s looking forward to the fun and sexy epilogues.


	18. Lake skipping stones: Epilogue: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the first of I’m thinking 3 epilogue chapters that will just show scenes of Vlad and Danny's lives now that they have bonded and continue to live uwu  
> Why 3 epilogues, because 1 would be way too long, there’s too many scenes I wanna do
> 
> This epilogue focuses on Danny's first year back.

The next morning.  
  


* * *

Danny had been awake for a little while now, gaining consciousness in increments as the morning slipped through Vlad’s window. The elder halfa’s arms were around him and the sound of his heartbeat against Danny’s ear was as soothing as he’d imagined it would be as they'd left Clockwork’s tower.

He sighed softly. Somehow the air smelled different in the morning, the sunlight drifting over the linens creating a comforting scent that coiled around Vlad’s own in a delicate balance.

Danny lifted his hand, he hadn’t woken Vlad yet and he didn’t intend, his movements slow and oh so gentle. His fingers brushed along Vlad’s jaw, fingers feeling the stubble there. They’d had an exciting few days and Vlad hadn’t had the time to keep his appearance as schooled as he preferred it. Danny liked the disheveled look.

“I love you,” he whispered it softly, imagining Vlad’s deep blue eyes opening to look down at him. They hadn’t told each other yet, but they knew.

They knew everything now.

Becoming Dan had blended them together, Danny had seen things that frightened him, things he couldn’t honestly say he’d wanted to see, but he knew Vlad had seen the same. That was the trade off. Still, he knew that despite everything, despite having the man lain bare before him, he loved Vlad.

Saying it though… well, words had never quite been his love language and although they knew each other far more intimately than any human couple could ever hope to, he still found it embarrassing. Even now with Vlad asleep his cheeks turned scarlet.

One day, one day soon hopefully, he wouldn’t feel like a bumbling idiot when he tried to say it.

When they’d lain down the night before, separate and unmerged but still holding one another close, the best he had managed was an ‘I don’t hate you’.

And Vlad had smiled because he knew two of Danny's secrets now. The first was that when Danny said he didn’t hate him he really meant ‘I love you.’ and the second was that for some time now Danny had meant ‘I love you’ even when he’d said that he did, in fact, hate Vlad.

Months before, at Jazz’s wedding, Vlad had tied his tie for him, his hand close to his throat where Danny liked it now. Back then he had told Vlad that he hated him, but he hadn’t. He’d loved him. He hadn’t known it yet, but buried deep beneath a dozen layers of denial and topped with pure stubborn stupidity, Danny had loved him.

They were a pair of thick headed soulmates.

Danny wouldn’t have it any other way. He needed someone who could really and truly put up with him, who could push back and argue. Ancients, Danny loved arguing and fighting. The rush of it drew him in and swelled his pride and there was nothing in the entire world quite like someone else competitive enough to fight back against him.

He wanted to fight forever, he wanted to always be challenged and swept up in momentum. Stagnation didn’t suit him. He’d tried it on the farm, back in the past. He knew that life wasn’t truly for him. He wanted someone who would run, and run, and run wherever their legs took them.

And that was Vlad.

He would be there for the ride. For all of it, all the ups and downs and changes, because as Clockwork had said, change was the only constant.

Vlad was warm to the touch, warmer than anyone else Danny knew and he sighed softly, closing his eyes and soaking it in as if he were a cat stretched out in a sunbeam. Slowly, carefully, he reached out with his core, letting it seek Vlad’s out and brush against it. He didn’t let himself fall into it again, they could practice that later, for now he just wanted to dip further into Vlad’s warmth.

This was such an odd and incredible place to be.

Danny wondered about how much his feelings for Vlad had grown within the last few days, well, one day really, with a few hours before and after to bookend it. Yet again he couldn’t help but question if it was their lines connecting that had caused his feelings to deepen or if, finally free from the bounds of his denial and stubborn nature, they had been able to shake themselves out of the back of his mind. Once more he asked himself if it really mattered which was true, but he got the feeling that it was less one or the other and more of both.

He had to admit, there had been moments with Vlad that could have slipped into something more, touches that could have lingered, thoughts that he covered with half baked explanations.

He remembered Vlad on the balcony of his Wisconsin mansion during their surprise birthday party for him. Ancients, that all seemed like eons ago. Back then Vlad had managed to make him laugh while he was in pain, making him smile however faintly. He’d been scared then of losing two soulmates, Sam and Tuck, when really the solution had been right in front of him. There Vlad had been, leaning over the balcony railing, wine in one hand, photo album in the other, talking so softly about his past and offering Danny guidance.

Part of him wanted to go back, wanted to travel back through time and drag Vlad into a kiss then and there as his family played party games in the background, the glow of the inside lights surrounding them as they stood in the dark.

How easy would it have been to have run his hands through Vlad’s hair and chosen him before he’d gone and murdered himself? Would Vlad have let him do it then, let him pick him?

What about back at the beginning, back on Danny’s bedroom floor where Vlad had given him that letter? What if Danny had just closed the gap between them before they’d widened further?

Another part of him though, and perhaps a larger part, knew that this had probably been the best path. It hadn’t been easier, far from it. But, looking back he knew they’d both been far from ready.

His ‘death’ had pushed Vlad towards his own healing and Danny was grateful for that. He wasn’t grateful for much of what had happened over the years, but that, Vlad changing on his own, Danny didn’t think he’d trade that for anything.

Vlad’s breathing changed, the elder halfa waking as Danny watched, knowing this was the first of many times he’d watch Vlad open his eyes, a soft, caring smile warming his face, “Hello, it’s nice to see you.”

Danny rolled his eyes, still smiling, hand still settled gently on Vlad’s cheek, “Please don’t tell me you’re going to say that every time we wake up.”

“I’ve got half a mind,” Vlad said sleepily, eyes closing slowly as he breathed in deeply, drifting off just bit before his own hand lifted, fingers tangling with Danny’s own, shifting his hand slightly to press a kiss to Danny’s palm. “Cm—er”

“Mm?” Danny asked, still partially asleep himself, letting his body be shifted as Vlad’s other arm hooked under his shoulder to tug him up. He was settled against Vlad’s chest, legs straddling his waist as Vlad pulled himself up a bit, leaning against a few pillows until he was partially sitting.

Vlad’s hands rested against Daniel’s hips, letting the younger man bury his face against his neck, “Come here.” He said again now that he wasn’t speaking into Daniel’s cool open palm. A pleased rumble ran through his core at the feeling of Daniel’s naturally cold body across his. He could stand to wake up like this forever.

“You already moved me,” Danny said, tucking his cheek to Vlad’s neck, nose brushing the spot just under his ear, “I can’t get much closer.”

Okay, that wasn’t exactly true. They had learned yesterday that they could get far closer than they currently were. They could also pull away though and for that Danny was indescribably happy. The joy he felt at knowing that Dan was no longer a likely threat lifted so much weight from his shoulders, from his mind.

It was also nice to know that he shared Dan now, fully. He had spent so long not talking about him that he’d felt as if Dan were cemented to the inside of his throat.

Sometimes he dreamed of choking on what must have been snot, of coughing and coughing only to continue to struggle to breathe. He couldn’t swallow it or expel it out from within him. He’d reach into his mouth, down his throat, wrap his fingers around the slimy, slippery mess of it and try desperately to pull it out.

That dream always turned to memories of Dan.

Once, just once, he’d managed to ask Jazz about it and she’d told him that some theories suggested that such dreams meant he needed to confide in others, that he was bearing too much and needed more than anything else to talk to someone. She’d asked him what he needed to talk about and Danny had known it had been Dan, but he had choked the words back, just as he choked in his dreams.

“You’re beautiful,” Vlad said, tearing him from his thoughts and from his neck, Danny pulling back to look at him, face immediately heating. No one had ever told him that. It made him feel… well, he didn’t have a word that fit right, embarrassed was close, but so was grateful, and needy. He wanted to hear it again but he didn’t know how to ask.

He knew, of course, that Vlad meant it. He had seen how Vlad saw him. That change to noticing Danny’s looks in that way was new, but ardent. Danny remembered how Vlad had shown him what he’d looked like to him when their lines had connected, how his bright blue eyes had caught the light from outside and shone in the dark.

Vlad had been captivated then and he was now, running a gentle thumb across his cheek, “I want to keep waking up like this.” He admitted and Danny smiled.

“Me too.”

“I have to go back to work soon… I was only taking a day off to work in the lab, but well, we saw how that went.”

They certainly had. Danny grimaced a bit at the memories, turning his face to Vlad’s hands, wanting to bury himself in the touch. “I’m sorry I said all those things, that I didn’t want you.”

At the time he’d assumed Vlad’s expression was simply anger, but now he knew it had been hurt. God, he’d hurt Vlad a lot over the past few months.

Vlad rose, sitting up fully to wrap his soulmate up in his arms, “Oh Daniel, that doesn’t matter now, we hadn’t realized how deep our feelings really ran yet and besides, when we merged I saw how much you regretted it, even in the moment.” He reassured, kissing Daniel’s throat with deep affection, warm lips brushing over the cool skin, “Besides, I cannot blame you for all the times you didn’t want me, there were years when I didn’t want you like this, but they don’t change the fact that I do now.”

Danny knew that was true, knew that neither of them had been open to this for a long time and getting hung up on it wouldn’t do them any good when they wanted one another now, but he still didn’t like the fact that he’d been callous. “Why… why do you always call me Daniel,” he asked, wanting to pull himself from his guilt and drown in Vlad’s embrace and in the answers he already knew but needed to hear.

“At first it was because I refer to almost everyone by their proper names, save for Maddie, but then it was because no one else called you Daniel… sometimes it was to make you mad, but it also felt, feels, more intimate,” Vlad said a small shiver running through him at the thought of calling Daniel his full name especially now that they were soulmates, “It’s as if I’m the only one who has permission to.”

“You are.” Danny said a small swell of pride growing in his chest at how Vlad’s breath snagged momentarily in his throat. “I can’t imagine anyone else calling me that.” He didn’t want them to. He wanted their names to be for them alone.

“I like it when you call me Vladimir,” Vlad said. It had used to make him angry how Daniel would use the name to patronize him. It had felt as if the younger halfa was calling him by his full name to scold him like a child whose mother had caught them sneaking out of the house. Now it felt just as intimate as it did to call the other man Daniel, private and just between them even when spoken with syllables laced with annoyance.

“I know.” Danny murmured, meeting Vlad’s lips as he leaned towards him, the two of them settling into a long and lazy morning kiss, taking their time to explore each other.

Vlad’s hands were on him, gentle and reverent, each touch across his back, over his sides and shoulders, filling the quiet with words as they held one another. As they seperated for air, the scent of Vlad, of cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom, wrapped around him and Danny made a decision.

Vlad knew all of him, had held open a space for him and given him acceptance even as Dan, even as the worst versions of himself. He could voice what he wanted. Vlad already knew anyway and here he was, holding him close.

Still it was a bit embarrassing when he spoke, “Call me beautiful again, Vladimir.”

And Vlad did.

“You’re beautiful, Daniel.” He said it over and over, at first verbally and then in the soft, open mouth kisses he pressed to Daniel’s skin. He laid the younger down against the bed, marking his bare chest with small nips of his fangs that he’d let slip into his appearance.

Danny gasped and squirmed against the touch, Vlad’s words making his heart beat hard in his chest. Vlad’s touch waged a war against him, his natural heat seeming to burn Danny even while he left goosebumps in his wake. Danny flushed as Vlad left a trail of purple and red bites down his stomach, each cut making him whimper, hand rising to cover his mouth at the pain that left him aching for more.

This was far more intimate than the night before. Fighting was different from this, falling to a rough rut was one thing, being pressed under Vlad’s gaze, under his teeth and tongue, was another.

Vlad’s fingers brushed along the soft fabric of Daniel’s sweatpants, dipping under the cloth. He glanced up, looking across the expanse of Daniel’s chest and stomach, watching how he panted and asking silent permission to continue.

Daniel’s eyes met his, cheeks flushing as he nodded and Vlad knew that he could melt into that gaze and let it hold him forever. He kissed Daniel’s hips, right where the bone pressed against the skin, letting the scent of him fill his senses. He knew it well by now, from all their sparring matches. Although he had known it back when Daniel was in high school too, known it from their fights, from leaning over Daniel’s shoulder to whisper threats in his ear.

He wanted to know his scent like this too, in these softer moments, in the brush of fingers and lips over eager skin. Daniel had always smelled of petrichor, of a new world awash with cold rain. He was a December downpour on the edge of turning to snow, the crisp coil of it wrapping around him like frost creeping up a window in soft florets.

He tugged Daniel’s sweatpants down. He could have phased them off, but he liked the feeling of Daniel shifting under him, lifting his hips with want to let Vlad undress him.

He sat up, taking in the sight below him, running his hands over Daniel’s thighs, “Absolutely stunning,” he purred softly, loving how his praise made Daniel gasp and shake. Their merging had shown Vlad just how deprived of praise Daniel really was and how much he enjoyed it. It was something he fully intended to use, wanting nothing more than to watch the younger halfa fall apart as he told him things that were long overdue.

A Vlad clone materialized behind Danny, making him jump slightly in surprise as hand’s ran over his arms, lifting him so he could rest against the second Vlad’s lap and get a clear view of what his soulmate was doing. Being naked in front of Vlad was brand new and nerve wracking. He knew that due to their memories blending Vlad had seen him in some rather compromising positions so it wasn’t as if he didn’t know Danny’s body, but experiencing it in real time made his breath hitch in his throat.

Vlad leaned down further, kissing at his navel until he pressed his lips against the head of Danny’s length. “Oh fuck…” Danny breathed before he could stop himself, both Vlad’s chuckling lowly at the response.

“You’ll be a good boy for us and stay still won’t you?” The clone beside his ear murmured as Vlad wrapped his fingers around Danny’s cock.

Danny closed his eyes as Vlad stroked him, wanting to stay still as Vlad had asked so he could hear Vlad whisper more praises, but unable to stop his hips from jerking a bit.

“You’re amazing, do you know that Daniel?” The clone asked as Vlad bent down, running his warm, wet tongue against the underside of his dick, tracing the vein there with a groan as if pleasured by his taste alone, “You’re brave and strong and so much smarter than you realize.”

Danny trembled, Vlad’s words sending heat straight to his gut. He buried his face in his hands, length jumping in Vlad’s hold as he finally wrapped his lips around the tip.

The taste of Daniel was heady on his tongue, precum dripped across his palate, bringing with it a sharp, near bitter flavor Vlad couldn’t help but moan at. He sunk down, moving slowly as to draw it out, to continue to hear the soft sounds that had begun spilling from Daniel’s lips.

He breathed out slowly through his nose, taking all of the younger halfa in as he relaxed his throat, swallowing around him to bring a strangled cry from Daniel.

Danny wanted to thrust up into Vlad’s mouth, into his heat. Vlad wasn’t holding him down or restraining his arms, it would be so easy to reach out and tangle his hands in Vlad’s hair, hold him down while he bucked upwards. However, the clone behind him continued to murmur to him, soft praises falling down upon him, stilling him.

“You’re doing so well,” Vlad’s clone said, “You’re so good, little badger, so good to me.”

“Vlad… fuck, I can’t—” he moaned, shaking as Vlad’s fangs scrapped along the delicate skin of his length in a tease of pain.

“You can do it,” the clone assured as Danny’s head fell back, sweat beading on his forehead as he leaned further against the strong chest behind his own. “Keep moaning for me, you sound so sweet.”

Danny answered with a low, soft whimper, biting into his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood.

The clone tilted his head, grabbed his chin and pulled his face to his own, kissing him hard and deep, tongue pressing into his mouth to steal his breath, taking all he could of Danny and Danny wanted to give everything, every last drop.

He was becoming dizzy, feeling like he was falling again. Clawed hands ran down his thighs, the sharp sting of the pain from where Vlad touched him pushing the spiraling away and he pulled back from the kiss to suck in a sharp breath, stopping his core from reaching out to tangle with Vlad’s.

“Wonderful job, little badger.” The clone said, taking one of Danny’s hands and lowering it towards his head, letting him finally tangle his fingers in his hair, “I’m proud of you. Take your reward.”

Fuck hearing Vlad say he was proud of him made him moan, the fire in his gut heating further still.

He gripped Vlad’s hair tight, the man groaning at the painful sensation as Danny tugged him up to shove him back down onto his cock. His knees bent, giving him leverage to thrust up and into Vlad’s throat.

“Remember not to pull your punches,” the clone encouraged, biting at Danny’s throat and it was all the permission he needed to begin fucking Vlad’s face roughly.

It didn’t take Danny long to be caught up in the pleasure, to let it swell up inside him as he took Vlad roughly, the man gagging a bit at the movements but not pulling away, never telling him to stop.

However what truly pushed Danny to the edge was opening his bleary eyes and catching sight of Vlad’s right hand. It had long since left Danny’s thighs but he hadn’t paid much attention to it considering he’d been drowning in the feeling of Vlad’s tongue against his cock, but now he saw where it had gone.

Vlad had pulled his own sweatpants down just enough to pull himself out, stroking his own length at a desperate pace. He was letting Danny fuck his throat raw and Danny could see how much he loved it, how flushed his cheeks were, how he whined soft moans when he could through his nose.

Vlad’s eyes opened, looking up at Daniel, head spinning with the lack of oxygen and the lust that filled him to the brim. The way Daniel was looking at him made his hips stutter needily, thrusting blindly against his own hand. Spit and Daniel’s precum ran messily down his chin and Daniel’s grip tightened, thighs trembling. He was close, Vlad moaned, wanting to taste his finish, wanting Daniel to shove him down against him and fill his throat.

“Don’t pull me off,” he clone said, his own breathing heavy now, “I want to taste you Daniel, I want to kiss you, share the warmth of you on my tongue.”

“Fuck V-Vladimir…” Danny whimpered, staring down at Vlad as the clone set his fangs hard against his shoulder, biting to bring blood to the surface and he cried out, refusing to look away as he held Vlad down, finish washing over him, shaking through his body, hips snapping up messily.

Vlad moaned as Daniel came, as his length jumped in his mouth with his release, cumming hard down his throat. He swallowed, trying to stare up through his lashes at Daniel, see his face flushed with orgasm. He ached between his legs, desperate for release and he could have cum to the sound of Daniel’s moans and the taste of him on his tongue, but he tightened his fingers around himself, staving off his own orgasm despite the whine it drew from him. He let his clone disappear and looked up dizzily to Daniel as he pulled off, a string of cum and spit still connecting them.

Daniel’s hands moved from his hair to his arms, tugging him up roughly and pulling him into a messy kiss. Vlad moaned into it, scrambling up into Daniel’s lap, not caring that his face was still covered in spit and precum or that they were sweaty or any of it. He just wanted to feel Daniel against him, holding him like this forever.

“Touch me,” he begged as they broke apart, lips millimeters apart, Daniel’s tongue still trying to chase his own and pull them into another kiss despite how he panted.

Danny was quick to comply, reaching his hand between them and phasing Vlad’s sweatpants off so he could have easier access. He grabbed Vlad’s dick, giving it a few quick strokes that had Vlad trembling, holding onto him as he rocked up into the touch. He yanked Vlad back by his hair, exposing the pale column of his throat and sucking a dark hickey against his skin.

“Daniel… D-Daniel oh god, oh fu-” Vlad groaned, causing Danny to let out a frustrated growl.

“I want to hear you say it.” Danny breathed against Vlad’s ear, running his thumb across Vlad’s slit to smear the mess of precum there, “Be good and say it for me, Vladimir.”

Vlad shook, Danny smirking at the sight, knowing Vlad also enjoyed being praised. He was given compliments often considering his high social status, but compliments for who he truly was were rather rare.

“F-Fuck Daniel,” he managed, as Danny pulled him in for another biting kiss, drawing blood from his lips and lapping it up, grabbing him hard by his neck with his free hand, fingers possessive over his bond line.

“Good boy,” Daniel murmured and Vlad flushed further, the blush spilling far down his chest and burning along his ears. No one had ever called him that and he couldn’t even begin to deny that it made pleasure spark up his spine.

“Daniel please, D-Daniel fuck, please, I—” he was babbling, words rushing from him in a cascade as Daniel stroked him faster, holding his neck tight. He felt the tug in his gut that spelled his end, a shot of electricity shooting through him and he whined, canting up harder into Daniel’s hand to chase it until moaning and trembling he was spilling over between Daniel’s fingers, stars filling his vision as everything other than his finish fell away.

Daniel stroked him through it, milking every last bit he could give and continuing to touch him until he ached with over sensitivity. Vlad clawed at his back, “D-Daniel…” he whined as he softened, causing the other halfa to chuckle.

“I like watching you squirm,” he hummed as he finally stopped, letting the silence of their afterglows settle over them, chests heaving.

Vlad’s hands found Daniel’s hair, running through it just to do so, not to smooth it down and tame the strands, just to touch, to feel and be seen. Daniel was nuzzling at his neck, his clean hand settling to his hip as he ran his tongue over the hickies he’d left. Vlad wished they would stay, but he could already feel them healing.

He let them rest for as long as he could, his heartbeat slowing as he marveled at how new this all was, but how naturally they fell into one another. Back in the days when they’d still been at each other's throats he couldn’t have imagined Daniel holding him like this. Now he couldn’t imagine it being anyone else.

It was always going to be Daniel.

He was the one person who could stay and Vlad wanted him there more than anything.

“I love you,” he whispered and perhaps it was too early considering they had just completed their bond, or perhaps it was years too late given all they’d put each other through, but there it was.

Danny’s breath hitched in his throat, pulling back to search Vlad’s gaze. He’d thought it would take a lot longer to get to this point. Vlad tended to be rather closed off and he hadn’t expected that to be different once they’d merged. Old habits died hard, but Vlad just smiled already knowing Danny’s answer.

“I love you too,” he said anyway, because it deserved to be voiced while Vlad was awake and while they weren’t merged. Even if they both knew the act of saying it and being heard held a different weight. He kissed Vlad again, slow and soft this time before Vlad moved away a minute or so later.

“I have to get to work, remember?” He asked as he leaned over and grabbed a box of tissues off his nightstand and handed them to Daniel.

Danny groaned as he cleaned off his messy fingers, “Can’t they live without you?”

“Not likely and even if they could well…”

“You’re a control freak I know, I know.” Danny laughed, tossing the messy tissues into a nearby waste basket. “Got to show everyone who’s boss.”

Vlad kissed the edge of his mouth before rolling off, “Come on let’s shower, get some breakfast.”

“Do you think I can cook now?” Danny asked as he followed Vlad from the bed and to the bathroom, “I mean I saw your memories of cooking, all those recipes you keep in your head, so can I cook now?”

“You can remember my memories of it, but you don’t have your own developed ones so I don’t think so.”

“I’m going to.”

“If you set my kitchen on fire, Daniel.”

Danny pulled past Vlad, stopping him in the bathroom door with a wide grin, “You mean our kitchen.”

Vlad rolled his eyes even as a soft smile broke across his face, “Yes, little badger, our kitchen.”

* * *

Five months after Danny’s return.

* * *

August heat pressed down across the lake, bright green leaves shimmering in the water's reflection. Sam and Tucker had returned to UW- Madison for the start of their senior years and Danny and Vlad had come to see them off.

They had spent some time touring the campus, Vlad reminiscing on his time there with Danny’s parents who he was slowly but surely patching things up with again. Danny had laughed at the lack of ghosts, teasing Vlad about how possessive he had been of his territory in his first years as a halfa.

Vlad had smiled and merely said that he hoped the ghosts would come back one day, they made the campus more interesting.

Not long after they had bonded the tabloids had noticed that the notoriously single billionaire Vlad Masters had completed a soulmate bond. It had been a hectic few weeks since their bond had completed and Danny had found it amusing how much the news getting out bugged Vlad. He’d insisted that he didn’t care, how could he, they had been through far too much for paparazzi to scare him.

They’d taken to pulling pranks on them, aided of course by their halfa abilities and they managed to pull a few good ones while wandering the grounds of the school.

However, even they needed a break and they’d left the public space to do something that Danny had, in some ways, always known that he’d do.

Lake Mendota looked far different in the late summer than it had the cold, winter day that he had killed his clone. It was bright and open. In the less secluded parts people came and went, biking, jogging, and splashing around in the water. They walked until the people fell away, until they reached a spot that Danny had scoped out before he’d disappeared.

He wondered, did the people who played here remember the boy who had been brutally murdered almost three years before?

A few months ago Danielle had taken him to his grave, to see what he had done. At the time he’d been angry, but now he could grasp what she’d been trying to do.

He stopped by the rock he had sat on as the days had become weeks waiting for someone to find his body, looking out to the water where he had killed his clone. Part of him had died in the portal incident, but Danny had come to feel that more of him had died here in the lake.

Perhaps it hadn’t been his main body, but he’d lost so much of himself that day, bashing his own head in, his blood turning the water red, watching himself rot. Danny had never been the same since that morning, but he was learning to appreciate who he’d become since then.

He ran his hand over the stone and Vlad squeezed his hand gently, “I sat here for so long, waiting.” He said, more to the air than to Vlad.

Danny stepped to the shore, the gravel pressing into his shoes. He bent over, picking up a flat rock. The water was pleasant against his skin as his fingers dipped into the lake for that brief moment. In his memories it was always bitterly cold, just shy of frozen. But now it was warm to the touch. He turned the rock over in his hand, fingers rubbing across the smooth surface before placing it between his thumb and pointer finger.

He arched his arm back and to the side before heaving forward, slinging the stone away and out of his grasp, carrying the memories of the ice with it to skip across the water, shattering the reflections of the trees in its wake.

How much had he changed that day when he had killed his clone? He regretted it. So much of him was still filled with the guilt of having left and yet — he looked over to Vlad, to the man who had grown and changed in the wake of him leaving, he wouldn’t take it back.

Was it okay to regret something he wouldn’t redo if given the chance?

He nodded to himself, Clockwork had told them they didn’t need permission to hurt, that sometimes pain simply was and that was part of living.

Danny was living now and he wouldn’t trade that for anything despite the pain, so he closed his eyes and let it hurt, knowing it was alright to still be a bit confused, knowing that the tears that welled in his eyes were his to shed.

Vlad tugged him to his chest and held him close, hand rubbing across his back.

Danny didn’t know how long he cried, let himself mourn against Vlad’s suit jacket, but it didn’t matter.

* * *

Seven months after Daniel’s return.

* * *

Vlad’s mood was shot the moment he woke up. He’d known that he wasn’t going to like today for weeks beforehand, just as he always did, but nothing ever helped. Year after year this day haunted him.

Daniel knew of course, he’d tried to reach out, but Vlad wasn’t sure where to start with this. It had happened years ago and it still hurt and he knew, he knew they were supposed to be dealing with their pain, but this one was entrenched within him, buried deep like a skinned over splinter.

He’d been so young.

He closed his eyes, curling in on himself. Daniel shifted beside him, arms wrapping around him, “Vlad…” he murmured, nosing at their mark around his neck, tracing it lovingly. Vlad’s heart squeezed in his chest. He loved Daniel so much and they shared everything but this… this felt different. He hadn’t even told Jack and Maddie about this and he didn’t think he ever would.

Did embracing pain mean sharing it..? Did it have to?

“I can’t… not this time,” Vlad whispered, “I know you’ve seen it, but I can’t…”

“You don’t have to.” Daniel said and the words were a balm across his heart and mind as he was gently turned around, lips kissing at the tears that already slipped down his cheeks. “You don’t have to verbalize it, just let me hold you.”

“Always.” Vlad whispered, letting himself be small in Daniel’s arms, letting his soulmate block out the world.

“I’m staying,” Daniel whispered and Vlad bit his lips, a sob stuttering through his chest in broken heaves that edged on hiccups. He needed to to hear that now because not everyone in his life had stayed, even before Jack and Maddie had left.

He knew it hadn’t really been his mother’s fault, not fully anyway, people died. But it still hurt.

His father hadn’t been kind to her, had made her old before her time. She’d died when he was still in high school. She’d gotten sick, started forgetting her meds and during his darker moments Vlad wondered if she’d given up, forgotten the pills on purpose. Sometimes he blamed her for it, most of the time he understood. He hadn’t wanted to live with his father either.

He hadn’t understood loss until then. Hadn’t seen the hollow way people looked at you, how they said they were sorry for his loss and didn’t mean it. He hadn’t been equipped to process it, seeing her dead in a too sterile hospital room. He’d hated those white tile halls long before his incident.

The person in the casket hadn’t been her, hadn’t even come close and he’d been aware of death, of course he had, he’d been fifteen, but he’d never been close to it. For him death had been something far away. Death couldn’t happen to him or to the people he loved.

Death was something joked about, he’d said things like ‘all this homework makes me want to kill myself’ and he’d had no idea the weight behind those ideas. Vlad winced at the memories, at how flippant he’d been, how naive.

Years later his relationship with death and dying, because they were completely different states of being even for fully human individuals, was far more complex than he could have ever imagined.

At the time he’d just tried to shut everything out, tried to pretend that perhaps his mother had never existed at all, but that never worked and he’d missed laying his head in her lap and letting her sing to him. As a typical teen he’d found her coddling annoying, but once she’d left he’d missed it most of all… he still did.

Living with just his father afterwards had been a nightmare, her death bringing his more violent and drunken tendencies out. He’d always had them, had slipped plenty of times, but once she was gone they had worsened. He’d spent too many years tip toeing around the house, memorizing the creaks in the floor so he wouldn’t disturb him.

It would have been nice to have had ghost powers then, to have been able to silence himself in the way his father had always demanded.

The man had died while he was in the hospital for his ectoacne, along with his grandmother, leaving Vlad completely alone, but he’d only ever been to his grandmother's grave. He hadn’t bothered to visit his father’s and maybe he needed to get that closure, but he still wasn’t ready, just as he wasn’t ready to talk about it.

They may have known each other like the backs of their hands now, but that didn’t mean he was at the point where he could speak and his love for Daniel only grew as his soulmate let him hold the words back, as he didn’t demand that he voice his pain.

He’d looked for his mother in the Ghost Zone, hopped beyond all reason that he’d find her, but he never had. He was so, so thankful he had found Daniel, that at least for him Vlad could stop looking.

“Hold me,” he whispered even though Daniel already was and Daniel nodded, tugging the covers close so they could sleep and hope together that tomorrow would be better.

* * *

Four months since forming.

* * *

  
Dan breathed in slowly, legs folded under him. He was back in Clockwork’s tower in front of the clock face window. Clockwork was watching him closely, his expression was gentle.

Dan’s name had stuck for better or worse. Although Danny had messed around with it for a bit, mostly using Ember’s technique of merely mashing their names together. His ideas included, but were not limited to, Vlaniel Fensters, Dlad Manton, Plastom, Phanmius, and perhaps worst of all Danimir Fasters. The last one was the most egregious because it had caused Danny to make several Sonic gotta go fast jokes afterwards that Vlad had been forced to sit through.

He had formed a few times since Vlad and Danny had first accidently merged, but it was always for training, just as it was today. However, this session was going to be a bit different from the others.

While he had spent time practicing forming and unforming with both Danny and Vlad’s consent today was the first time they were attempting to unravel him while one of them protested.

After many long talks they had decided that Vlad would be the first to fight back, hoping together that he would be a bit easier to pull away from given that they knew Danny could silence Vlad. They wanted to start small, having Vlad simply not want to separate instead of actively forcing Danny down. If they could pull that off Vlad would attempt to take full control of their consciousness, making Danny fight an uphill battle to the front of their mind before forcing them apart.

Their end goal was to split while Danny was in total control and unwilling to be seperated. That endgame felt far away, but they had to start somewhere.

Dan flicked his gaze to Clockwork, “Ready?”

“When you are.”

Dan nodded, closing his eyes and focusing inward. Danny and Vlad had taken to mediating together as part of their training to be Dan so the introspection had become easier. It also helped with the grief, providing them both a safe space to confront their feelings, letting them pass through them.

He began to unravel, Danny trying to tug away, but as planned Vlad held on, kept reaching forward with his core and mind even as Danny moved to seperate. Vlad dug in and pain sparked across Dan’s senses, making his teeth grit.

Why was Danny leaving?

He wasn’t. He would still be here after.

Why couldn’t they stay like this? Vlad’s fears of being alone, of people leaving him bubbled to the surface, memories of Vlad alone in the hospital, of visiting his mother’s grave, of drinking alone in his too empty mansion flickered by.

Danny insisted that he was staying, that he wasn’t going to leave, but Vlad shook inside them. Danny had left before, what was going to happen when people he loved, people they loved, started dying. It was going to happen, they were going to lose people and that was bad enough, but what if Danny ran again?

They were in their bed, but Vlad was waking up alone, curling in on himself, how long would Danny be gone this time?

He wouldn’t run this time. He had learned that it didn’t help.

How could he be sure? It was difficult to predict such emotions until they happened, what if his first reaction was to bolt?

The pain got worse, Vlad had promised not to pull his punches, but Dan still trembled at the hurt, trying to let it roll over him, but it wasn’t helping.

I’m not leaving.

You are! You’re leaving right now and it hurts!

I have to, Danny tried to reason, just for now and I’m coming back.

Vlad dug in further, he wasn’t going to let Danny leave, not even for a moment. Danny was his, they were soulmates. Possessive jealousy filled Dan, a need to hold on as tightly as possible and their cores snapped completely back together.

Dan let out a frustrated growl, reaching back inside and pulling roughly only to be hit with a wave of pain, this time more physical than emotional. Sweat broke out across his forehead. “F-Fuck come on.” He ground out, forcing himself to find his core again and pull.

He doubled over, trying to breathe through it as he unwound them. Vlad clung on but the pain of it was starting to get to them. It felt like running a set of needles over the spot where the halves of his brain met, silver sinking in slowly, making dark spots run across his vision, filling him with nausea.

Dan could feel it, feel how Vlad wanted to give into how Danny pulled, how even though parts of Vlad were consumed by the fears of Danny leaving the more rational parts understood he wouldn’t, wasn’t.

It felt extremely wrong to dig into his core and rip it apart, to find the breaks between the fire and the ice and split them. It felt… it felt like when Maddie had reached into Danny’s chest cavity and touched his core. He gasped at the memory, at the phantom pain and the subsequent fear. “Fuck I c-can’t it’s too much—“

“You can.” Clockwork said and Dan knew it was meant to be reassuring but he growled at the tone.

“I d-don’t like hurting them.” Dan bit out, curling in on himself hard. He needed to just do it, rip the bandaid off despite the pain, despite the growing guilt inside him as he realized this would have a physical impact on them.

Being torn away came with danger, with injuries.

But if he had to, if they had to, ever force this in a nightmare situation, then they had to know it was possible. They needed to practice.

“They’ll heal this time. Would they get that opportunity if you snapped?”

No.

No, if Dan snapped that would be the end of the game, of everything. They couldn’t let that happen. Pain now secured the future, pain now provided a long needed safety net.

Dan offered up a silent apology, a prayer of forgiveness, wrapped Danny’s mind around Vlad’s and yanked as hard as he could.

It was like raising a knife above his head and swinging it down hard, slamming it against his wrist and severing his hand from his body, metal sinking in with a quick, gruesome thunk. The determination to do it required an iron will, an unflinching motion. He couldn’t stutter or doubt. Doing so meant risking snapping back together and having to experience this pain again and he didn’t want that, he didn’t know if he was strong enough to take it.

Dan screamed, gasped and jerked before they burst apart. The first time they’d merged and the few times they had practiced afterwards the separation was soft. Danny and Vlad would reform close to one another, holding hands or sitting across from one another. But this time they exploded outwards, flung towards opposite ends of the wide space.

Danny managed to catch himself before he hit the wall, but Vlad slammed into it hard, crumpling to the ground in a smoking heap, cape hiding most of him from view.

“Vlad!” Danny struggled to get his bearing at the sight, running over to his soulmate in stumbling steps. He felt as if he'd been hit with a truck, exhaustion nesting in his marrow and weighing him down. His head began to throb with a headache that stretched over his forehead, down his jaws, and across his neck and shoulder blades.

He reached out, stunned at the smoke curling off Vlad, particulates rising into the air in heavy grey coils. His hands shook as he fell to his knees beside Vlad, moving to touch him, “Vlad? Vlad are you okay, are yo—?”

Vlad reared back suddenly, whipped around from where he’d collapsed to the floor and Danny caught a glimpse of deep, unsettled terror in his red eyes before Vlad’s hand connected with face. It happened in the blink of an eye, the latter side of a second. Pain bloomed across Danny’s face in a hot, biting rush. Vlad’s claws were out and covered in the green of his ectoplasm.

He backed away from Danny, baring his fangs up at him, panting hard as his ghost form flickered and Danny understood the smoke coiling off him. His core had overheated during their forceful separation. It was no wonder he had lashed out, instincts taking over as he was injured and about as vulnerable as their kind could get.

Danny raised his hands, “Vlad, it’s okay it’s Daniel, you’re safe. I’m here.”

Vlad stared up at him, fangs still on full display even as his rings formed in and out of existence, threatening to turn him human and defenseless in the middle of the Ghost Zone.

Sitting down Danny made himself as passive as possible, knowing from experience that if Vlad perceived a threat his panicked ghost side would make it harder for him to calm down. Clockwork made sure to press himself to the far reaches of the room as well, giving Vlad space to reign himself in.

Back when he’d first accessed his core’s ice powers he had been prone to draining himself unintentionally. During those moments his friend’s defensive weapons had caused fear to overwhelm him, irrationally terrified that they would hurt him while he couldn’t properly defend himself. His instincts would push him into a fight or flight mindset where he could have snapped at anyone.

Dannh could understand the feeling, empathize with the way Vlad shook and so he gave his soulmate space, murmuring quiet reassurances.

After several long, tense minutes a whine broke free from Vlad’s chest, his expression shifting from one of fearful anger to that of devastation, “I hurt you— Daniel, I’m sorry I didn’t mean…”

Danny stood, quickly making his way over to Vlad and wrapping him up in his arms. The other halfa clung to him, the rings that had threatened to shift his form falling away as he got his core under mild control. He’d still need a while to return back to full strength, but at least he’d be able to maintain his appearance.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Danny reassured, brushing his fingers across Vlad’s cheek, holding him gently. He smiled softly as Vlad mirrored his actions, his soulmate carefully brushing his bright green ectoplasm away to reveal the deep gouges his claws had left. He could see the guilt in Vlad’s eyes brim over at the sight, but he merely hugged Vlad closer, “You were scared, you didn’t mean it.”

“I don’t want to hurt you like that anymore,” Vlad said, voice tight, still shaking as Danny’s other hand rubbed soothing circles across his back.

“I know, love,” Danny whispered, “but you didn’t. Splitting like that hurt your core, your insitincts took over. But you’re safe now, I’ve got you.”

Vlad’s eyes widened a bit at the soft name, heat rising to his cheeks. Daniel didn’t use pet names other than fruitloop very often. He liked them. He wrapped his arms around Daniel and pressed his face to his chest, “Stay…”

“Always, promise,” Danny said, letting them sit quietly for a few minutes before Vlad spoke up again.

“I really didn’t like that.”

Danny couldn’t agree more, forcing a separation felt incredibly wrong and it had wound up hurting Vlad’s core, for however brief a time.

“I don’t want to do that again.”

“Neither do I,” Danny said even though he knew they would have to. Ensuring they were not only capable of separating, but practiced at it was more important than the pain. Still, guilt threatened to overwhelm him at the idea of them purposefully putting each other through it.

He caught Clockwork’s gaze and knew that his friend felt the same, that this was unfortunate, but necessary.

Danny wasn’t looking forward to it.

* * *

Ten months after Danny’s return.

* * *

Danny’s hand tangled with Vlad’s across the armrest console of the car. He glanced over to him, smiling. He liked watching Vlad drive, liked it when the sun came through the windshield and lit up his eyes to brighten the deep blue there.

They were listening to some music from when Vlad was in college and he was mumbling along with it, not quite singing and lost in the road ahead. Danny let the moment fill him with a now blissfully familiar comfort. They’d been bonded for six months now and the time had blown by, Danny happier than he’d ever been in his life.

They still fought sometimes, Vlad was still a bull headed asshole after all, but they were a team now despite their arguments. Besides, Vlad’s attitude was something Danny loved about him. He was passionate and hot headed and stubborn and Danny adored it.

“I can feel you staring.” Vlad said after a few minutes.

“Yeah I know, fruitloop.”

Vlad squeezed his hand, “Tell me what you’re thinking about.”

Danny’s smile only grew at the prompting. Since they had begun to become more comfortable with Dan Vlad had started asking to be let into Danny’s mind while they weren’t fused. There was something in that curiosity that he liked. He could tell Vlad whatever was on his mind and his soulmate listened ardently, “Just about how much I like arguing with you.”

“Is that why you left your muddy shoe prints all over the front hall yesterday?”

“How angry would it make you if I said yes?”

“Absolutely furious, badger.”

“Well then I did.”

Vlad’s gaze slid to his and Danny’s heart beat faster at the glare shot his way, “After the party I will be punishing you for that, you understand?”

“Only if you can catch me.”

Vlad grumbled a bit as they pulled up to Fentonworks and got out of the car. Danny kissed his cheek.

It was his first birthday back home and he was excited. He’d missed the good times with his family and his mom had promised to buy him a big ice cream cake. Vlad hadn’t given him any presents yet, but he’d snooped around the third floor library and found them days ago. But what he wanted more than gifts was time to spend with his friends and family, to curl up with Vlad on his old couch and enjoy how much they’d grown over the past few months.

Vlad and his parents had repaired things quite a bit now. They had gotten to the point where they were fine with Vlad not only using his powers, but being Plasmius around them and that was something Danny had never thought he’d see. It had been a bit jarring at first to see Jack Fenton and Plasmius laughing together.

The past, the rough spots where they’d fought seemed further and further away every day.

Danny had been patching things over with his mom too, the two of them sharing their grief and regret. It was taking her a bit longer to heal from what had happened than it had taken his dad. Although Danny knew that they were both still hurt, and perhaps always would be. He reminded them that he didn’t blame them, but for some grief a lack of blame didn’t matter. Some wounds just took time.

It had hurt at first when Danny had realized that he probably would never be as close to them as he had been before his incident. He had hoped that once his secret was out they could be as they had been before he’d half died, but too much had changed between them for that. They were different people and that pill had been difficult to swallow for a while, but Danny was learning that it was okay. It was okay to grow beyond people, even people you loved, even your family.

It didn’t mean he loved them any less and it sure as hell didn’t mean that they loved him any less, it just meant they were human. His home was with Vlad now and Danny took a certain amount of pride in who he was becoming.

The party was everything he could have hoped for, Jazz and Valarie were there, Sam and Tucker too. Danielle teleported into the living room while his mom was bringing in the pizza they’d ordered and had nearly given everyone a heart attack. The ice cream cake came with sparklers and Danny sang along awkwardly as everyone sang happy birthday because as always he never knew quite what to do while they did.

His birthday wish was that no matter how everyone grew they would always still come around for events like these.

* * *

A few hours later, just as the sun began to set, Danny and Vlad left Fentonworks. They waved goodbye to everyone, getting back into the car and leaning in close to kiss one another for a long moment before taking off.

Danny expected Vlad to drive them straight home, but instead he took a turn, leading them away from Amity. “Are you taking me on a surprise overseas vacation?” Danny asked as they got on the highway. Vlad hadn’t insisted they go anywhere big yet, the pair of them focusing more on enjoying their company at home and interacting with their family and friends.

“Not quite yet, little badger.”

Danny opened his mouth to ask where they were going to go if not to a private jet, but Vlad cut him off with a soft laugh.

“Just let me surprise you, badger, it’s your birthday after all.”

Danny wanted to grumble about Vlad telling him what to do. He’d never been particularly fond of surprises, hence why he’d rooted around in Vlad’s birthday gifts to him. He was too impatient and curious for them, but Danny figured that since his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he’d seen Vlad’s gifts early he could let Vlad surprise him now. So despite how his leg began to shake in anticipation he sat and let Vlad drive them away from Amity.

It was odd, not too long ago he wouldn’t have trusted Vlad to take them to an undisclosed location. They hadn’t been bonded for long at all, but having merged into Dan there were moments when it felt as if they’d loved one another for their entire lives. Perhaps everything that had happened to them had always been building to this, Clockwork seemed to think so. Danny wished there hadn’t been so many rough patches, so many dark chapters, but he was glad they’d made it here.

He looked out the window, Vlad’s hand holding his as Danny stared out the window. A little while later they pulled up to an outlook, Vlad parking the car before leaning over and catching Danny’s lips, the touch warm and wanting.

Danny chuckled, “You drove me to a cliff to make out? That’s rather scandalous Mr. Masters.”

“That’s not all we’re here for.” Vlad said as he pecked Danny’s cheek before moving to step out into the evening.

Danny rather liked the sound of ‘not all’ looking to the backseat and deciding that there was more than enough room back there to get into some trouble. He followed Vlad out of the car and to the edge of the overlook, following his gaze over the cliff. There was a lake below them and Danny gasped as he recognized it. “Hey, I used to love coming here! I used to all the time with Sam and Tuck.”

He looked over at Vlad and caught the odd look in his eyes, “Why’d we come here?” He asked after a few quiet moments where Vlad took his hands gently.

“This is where I knew,” Vlad started and Danny was confused as to what his soulmate was talking about but thankfully Vlad didn’t leave him hanging for long, “I saw my line on you when you got struck by lightning, but I thought it might be a coincidence. I followed you three out here to the lake, knowing I’d be able to see your line on Tucker and Samantha… I did. This is where I knew.”

Understanding of Vlad’s expression dawned on Danny. It was affection and embarrassment mixed in with guilt. Danny could remember the day that Vlad was talking about, two weeks after Danny’s incident over city hall. The storms over Amity had cleared and he and his friends had gone out to spend a relaxing day by the water. Back then he’d been so upset that his third mystery bond had gotten longer, he hadn’t put the pieces together yet and wouldn’t until Vlad appeared a little while later in his bedroom with his letter.

“I’m sorry I was spying on you,” Vlad started and Danny could hear it in his voice that he was about to go on a spiel of things he regretted, actions he wished he could take back.

Danny quieted him with a kiss, dragging Vlad into it, pressing their bodies close and although Vlad was stiff for a moment, he melted into it, arms moving from Danny’s hands to embrace him.

“I’m glad,” Danny said as they separated.

“T-That I was spying on you?”

Danny shook his head, pressing his forehead against Vlad’s own, “No you fruitloop, I’m glad you found out, I’m glad you told me… Vladimir, I’m glad it’s you.”

And he was. The past few months had been wonderful. Yes, it hadn’t all been smooth sailing. Yes, training as Dan could be painful and scary. Yes, they still let their emotions get the better of them sometimes. But Danny was happy. He was blissfully and utterly happy.

He was in love.

“Daniel…” Vlad said, voice a bit small and shocked, but Danny just held him tighter, told him again without words that he loved Vlad on purpose, that he would choose him over and over again.

Danny let them be quiet, held Vlad as long as he wanted to be held and when Vlad moved away of his own accord Danny let him go.

“I have another present for you.” Vlad said as he walked back to the car, opening the backseat and leaning in. Danny followed him, almost expecting Vlad to crawl in and ask him to join him there, but instead he got a quick, “Close your eyes.”

A box was placed in his hands and Vlad led him over to the hood of the car. “Okay you can look.”

Danny looked down at the wrapped package, “Why did you ask me to close my eyes if you had it wrapped?”

“That’s just how it’s done, Daniel, don’t question me. Now open it.”

Danny laughed at Vlad’s huffy tone and opened the present, removing the green wrapping paper and sliding out the box. He lifted the lid and was met with a leather binder. Danny knew what it was the moment he saw it, there was an identical one in their bedroom.

A photo album.

“I thought you might want to save a few of your own memories.” Vlad said as Danny lifted it gingerly from the box and placed it across the hood, opening the front cover with a small,

“Oh Vlad…”

Because there in the first few pages, nestled gently in the slots, were pictures of the two of them. They were candid shots, ones of Vlad trying to teach him to cook, them playing the piano together, laying on the couch half asleep. There were images of them sparring, of them laughing with his parents, with their friends.

“How did you do this?”

“Just a few intangible clones.” Vlad hummed, obviously proud of himself, “And I phased it into the car’s back seats because I knew you’d go snooping around for your other presents.”

“Sorry about that.”

“You are not.”

Danny laughed, “I am, I am. Just a little bit though. I’m not guilt ridden.”

“Mhm.”

Danny leaned over and nudged Vlad’s shoulder, “Love you.”

Vlad grumbled, but Danny knew that he meant ‘I love you’ even if he didn’t quite say it.

His fingers slid gently over a particularly nice picture of him and Vlad eating breakfast in the kitchen, morning light drifting in the window as they smiled together.

Danny was looking forward to the memories that would fill the rest of the pages and hopefully many more albums for years and years to come.

* * *

One year since Daniel’s return.

* * *

“Yeah, yeah we’ll be by at six. See you then Jazz, happy anniversary you two.”

Daniel put his phone down and leaned over Vlad, arms laying over his shoulder, “What you working on?”

“Just some paperwork for an upcoming merger between my company and PDA tech.”

“Oh I bet Tucker is thrilled about that.”

Vlad laughed, leaning back in his chair to press further into Daniel’s embrace, “He’s ecstatic, he’ll be able to get even earlier access to what they’re developing.”

Danny breathed in Vlad’s scent as he kissed his neck gently, hands moving to run down Vlad’s three piece suit and toy with the tie, “Please tell me you’re not going to be wearing this to Jazz and Val’s anniversary party tonight.”

“I’d intended to, yes.” Vlad said, turning around slowly as not to accidentally trip Daniel. Daniel climbed into his lap, fingers working over the knot in his tie and slipping it away.

“You don’t always have to be so stuffy,” he murmured, leaning up to kiss Vlad, lips moving over his soulmate’s own as Vlad opened slowly, tilting his head to deepen the contact. They both sighed happily into the embrace, Vlad exploring Daniel’s mouth, tongue tracing the hint of fangs that Daniel had let slip. “You don’t always have to wear your armor.”

Vlad paused, blinking for a second as Daniel pulled away, “What do you mean?” He asked even though he knew what his partner was saying, he just… he hadn’t expected him to bring it up.

“It’s okay to wear the suit, I love you so it’s not like I’m about to stop you, but it’s okay to be a bit more relaxed around others.”

“I don’t wear my suit in my lab or with your parents,” Vlad said and Daniel nodded, taking his right hand and kissing along the knuckles.

“I know that, but this won’t just be Tucker and my parents, it’s a crowd and I know how you only like to be seen one way.”

It had been a bit of a shock to learn that Vlad dressed well not only to show off and project an image, but also to convince himself he was worthy of a role. Dressing was part of his act for so long, part of blending in with other rich people who didn’t give a shit about him. Danny had learned that the better Vlad was dressed the more down he was that day. He wanted to convince others that he wasn’t hurting so he painted a pretty picture. It was harder for people to see the doubt he harbored when he was put together, when he looked as if he held all the confidence in the world.

“You’re a pest you know that, “ Vlad grumbled as Daniel saw through him, something he did very often. His suit held people at a distance and he was used to that even now.

“I won’t force you to, I want you to be comfortable,” Daniel said, unbuttoning Vlad’s shirt to slip his chilled fingers over his stomach and chest, “buuuut… there might be a reward waiting for you if you wear that nice shirt we bought you the other day.”

“Trying to bribe me, Daniel?” He hummed as the younger halfa leaned in for another kiss.

“Absolutely.”

* * *

Vlad did end up wearing the shirt Daniel had suggested, the soft blue of the button up bringing out the color in his eyes. He hadn’t even worn a tie, leaving the first two buttons undone. He felt a bit overexposed, but he did like that Daniel’s line across his throat was more visible.

He smiled a bit at the thought, squeezing Daniel’s hand as they walked up the steps to Jasmine and Valarie’s apartment. Vlad had offered to buy them a proper house, but they had both adamantly refused. Vlad wished they’d let him buy them things, ancients knew he had more money than he knew what to do with and there was no use being stubborn about it. He complained about it fairly regularly to Daniel.

The party was filled with friends and family as they entered, Jack coming up quickly to scoop him into a big bear hug Vlad returned before handing Jasmine a nice bottle of wine to go with the dinner they had planned.

He was nervous, although not because of his outfit, which everyone who knew him closely was quick to compliment him genuinely on. No, Vlad was nervous because he had a very important question to ask Jasmine, one better discussed in person than over the phone. That would have to wait though as the party got underway properly, Vlad finding himself situated on the apartment’s couch wedged between Daniel and Danielle as Jack reminisced loudly about the wedding that had occurred a year ago.

Everyone fell into easy conversations over the course of the night, Vlad meeting a good friend of Danielle’s who he hadn’t gotten the chance to yet. He noticed the line around their throat, the one that looked just like Daniel’s and he looked over to Danielle who caught his eye and smiled sheepishly.

“You didn’t say you were bonding with someone,” He said as they wound up standing side by side during an odd party game that involved pressing one’s phone to their forehead and guessing what the text on the screen read.

“It’s still pretty new, besides, I wanted it to be a surprise.” Danielle hummed, nudging his shoulder a bit and Vlad was warmed by the familiarity.

Vlad looked over to them. Danielle’s line across their throat was a few inches, so new, but not as she claimed ‘pretty new’, “Think they can stand all this,” He waved his hand in the way they knew meant the halfa stuff and ghosts.

“I think so,” Danielle said and Vlad caught the loving look in her eyes, “Besides I’ve decided to stop letting what I am hold me back from bonding with others.”

Vlad felt pride swell in his chest at the statement. Danielle hadn’t really bonded with others due to their complicated lives and the walls she tended to build around herself, no doubt a habit picked up from Vlad unfortunately. She had used to have a bond line with Valerie, but it had faded once Jasmine had bonded fully with her. Since then Danielle’s neck had been bare. It was nice to see her with someone and to know that she was lowering her walls, that they were all learning and growing, slowly but surely.

“I’m glad.”

The rest of the party went smoothly, everyone eating, drinking, and enjoying each other’s company. They all congratulated Jasmine and Valerie on one year of marriage and as the party wound down Vlad slipped momentarily from Daniel’s side to lean over to Jasmine and whisper, “Do you mind if I ask you something… in private.”

Jasmine looked a bit confused at first, but she nodded anyway, glancing around at her friends and family before leading Vlad back through the apartment and into her and Valerie’s bedroom, closing the door softly behind them.

“Please tell me nothing’s wrong, I swear if you and Danny have awoken some ancient evil and you’re telling me on my anniversary night I’m going to shave you both bald in your sleep.”

Vlad laughed, rubbing back of his head, “No, no it’s nothing like that but… well, I need some advice.”

She raised an eyebrow, “I’m listening.”

“How did you… how did you go about proposing to Valarie?”

Jasmine’s confusion fell away and she smiled, “Now that I can help you with, but you’ll owe me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y’all liked this, I got to play around with a few ideas of mine, do some scenes that didn’t fit into the base story and show the boys growing together uwu
> 
> Like I said in the summary these epilogues are going to focus on a few moments scattered about through their long lives because I am all about that immortal husbands content.
> 
> And yes, the epilogues will include a wedding cuz I’m a sucker for romance. A big softie. 
> 
> Also like oof, the sex scene was hard. I’m not quite used to writing sex for these two. I did want to give them both a praise kink tho, I think they both deserve it because yeah, Danny does not get a lot of positive attention, but I don’t think Vlad get much genuine positive attention so I think they are both craving it. Also, yea I think these boys are both switches so like I wanna play around with that. I don’t know how much I will in this fic particularly tho. I do have others planned for this ship.


	19. Summer Snowfalls: Epilogue: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This epilogue part focuses on Vlad and Danny’s one year anniversary vacation and Vlad’s proposal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What if I made something just so incredibly soft?

One year since bonding 

* * *

  
“Jasmine are you sure it’s alright?” Vlad asked as he double checked that he and Daniel had packed everything they were going to need for their upcoming trip, zipping up their luggage and setting it to the floor beside their bed. 

Jasmine’s voice came through the phone he had pressed between his shoulder and ear, “Vlad it’s wonderful, he’s going to love it, trust me. Although honestly you could get him a bread twist tie as a ring and he’d love it.”

That was probably true and Vlad knew it. This wasn’t necessarily about the item he was giving Daniel, it was about the symbolism behind it and in that sense his soulmate wasn’t likely to reject any ring he’d chosen, still, “I know, I know, I’m just…”

“Nervous.” Jasmine said with an understanding hum, “When I proposed to Val I thought my knees were going to lock up and cut off my circulation, it’s normal, you’re going to be fine.”

Vlad breathed in a deep breath and repeated Jasmine’s words to himself, he was going to be fine, being nervous was normal, Daniel was going to love it. 

“Besides,” Jasmine’s voice cut through his short meditation, “You’ve already got through the hard part, right?”

Vlad nodded even though Jasmine wasn’t there to see him do so, “He doesn’t know.”

Keeping the full intentions of their trip, the small black box pressed into his favorite bag’s most secure inner pocket, had been no simple task. Given that they wanted to practice with Dan their memories exchanged regularly. However not long before he’d begun thinking of proposing he had discovered a way to quickly shift attention to other memories, effectively hiding some behind others. Still, he had cut their practices down to the bare minimum to be extra safe, faking long days and exhaustion so that all Daniel wanted to do when he got home was cuddle. 

“Great, now all you have to do is ask.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“It is,” Jasmine said and it wasn’t exactly helpful but at least she elaborated, Daniel liked to say things and then not elaborate at all leaving Vlad hanging as Daniel’s mind skipped tracks to other matters, “Getting to the point where you ask is the hard part. Once you’re down on one knee it’s easy, it all kind of spills out.”

Vlad didn’t want it to spill out, ancients knew he’d ramble on like an idiot. He groaned at the mental image, Jasmine laughing at the sound.

“When you two heading out?” She asked.

“In just a few minutes.”

“Be safe okay, have fun. Good luck!”

“Thank you, Jasmine,” Vlad said before the line closed. He slipped his phone into his pocket and picked up their bags. 

Daniel was waiting for him in the entryway with a few more things, a backpack slung over his shoulder and smiling up at him as he phased through the floor. “Ready to go?”

He nodded, moving close to give Daniel a kiss just as the sound of a helicopter filled the air outside. Daniel shifted his form to his Dimitri persona, something necessary seeing as they’d be at the airport soon and Daniel Fenton was still officially dead. 

Daniel tended to be Dimitri in public seeing as Vlad was a well known individual, the news trailing him from time to time despite their best efforts to prank the paparazzi. Thankfully with his connections and admittedly his powers Vlad had fabricated all of Dimitri’s documents and supposed history, including a passport, a drivers license, and more. 

As they walked out to the front lawn Vlad’s private helicopter landed on its helipad, Daniel grinning back at him excitedly. They had used the helicopter before and Daniel had loved it. He hopped into the back, tugging on his headphones and mic, practically vibrating in the seat as their bags were secured. Vlad smiled at him. He enjoyed making Daniel happy. 

Vlad got in beside him, Daniel’s voice coming over the mic the moment he’d placed his headphones on.

“When are you going to teach me how to fly this thing?” 

“Soon.” Vlad promised with a laugh as the pilot moved to take off, lifting them into the air. 

Vlad found it interesting that Daniel loved the helicopter so much when they could both fly on their own, but he couldn’t help but watch as his soulmate looked down at the world through the window with an expression of delight and wonder. 

“Still not gonna tell me where we’re going?” He asked, looking back at Vlad to reach out and tangle their fingers together. Vlad gladly held on.

“That would ruin the surprise, badger.”

“It’s probably somewhere lame.” Daniel said, teasing him to try and draw the answer out, but Vlad wasn’t about to fall for it.

“Oh yes, I’m taking you to watch paint dry and then we’re going to do my taxes.”

“Figures.”

The airport wasn’t too far away and before they knew it they were out on the tarmac in front of the private jet, wind whipping around their hair. Vlad pulled Daniel close as they made their way towards the plane, pulling him into a kiss he’d been dying to give him on the flight over and Daniel smiled into it.

At first it had been a bit odd kissing Daniel when he was shapeshifting, but they’d gotten used to it due to the fact that both of them couldn’t seem to go long without expressing their affections. Perhaps that was due to his own jealous and possessive tendencies, but if Daniel minded in the slightest he never said so. 

Well, he almost never said so. There were a few times when they’d been out together when Vlad had been a bit too possessive and Daniel would tease him a bit. Vlad tended to circle him when they went shopping or out different places, hovering when Daniel spoke to workers or the random person he got caught up in conversations with. It wasn’t like Vlad actively wanted to scare people away, but well, he tended to cast a long shadow when he came up behind Daniel causing the other person to quickly scurry off.

Daniel would turn around and laugh, say something along the lines of, “How dare that old lady asking for directions talk to my soulmate,” in an imitation of his voice. It was always a human, shoddy imitation, never a proper copy like Vlad knew he could do. Daniel was aware that he was still uncomfortable with his voice copying abilities after what had happened a few Christmases ago. 

The private jet was decked out with everything they could want while traveling. Their bags were stored and they settled into their comfortable leather seats, Daniel shifting back to his true appearance once they were alone.

“So,” Daniel started as he leaned over and pulled out a few snacks from the bag he’d taken into the seating area with them, handing Vlad a box of junior mints that he hadn’t known he’d packed. He smiled, loving Daniel’s soft, quiet expressions of love, like remembering to pack his favorite candy. “Is this trip why you haven’t been in the mood to train as Dan lately.”

Vlad gave a noncommittal shrug, popping open his box of candies and letting a mint melt against his tongue with a hum, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Daniel’s foot nudged his own as he opened the bag of chips that would be his own in flight snack, “Coulda just told me, fruitloop.” 

“Your curiosity would have gotten the better of you.”

“It would not have!” 

The two of them fell into an easy, loving squabble, teasing one another as they began their trip. 

* * *

  
About four hours later the jet had landed in New York, New York and the pair found themselves pulling into a large parking lot. Daniel practically ran out of the car as they stopped and Vlad suspected he had phased through the door just a bit given how quickly he had moved.

“Vlad!” Daniel said, bouncing on his feet as Vlad followed. He pointed at a large glass square, inside of which was a huge orb, “This is the Hayden Planetarium! I’ve always wanted to come here!”

He was Dimitri, but his smile was all Daniel and so were his eyes. Vlad was glad he didn’t change those when he was undercover. 

“I’m aware,” Vlad said as he looped his arm through Daniel’s own, the two of them making their way towards the planetarium, “Why else would I have brought you here, my badger?”

Danny’s cheeks turned a satisfying shade of red as Vlad referred to him as his, “Please tell me you got tickets to all the shows,” he said quickly to try and brush the blush off, but Vlad caught it and ran the fingers of his freehand against Daniel’s cheek.

“Of course I did,” he said as they got to the front, Daniel looking up in awe at the glass cube in front of them and the solar system suspended inside. He looked a lot like Cujo when he was offered a treat, little green tail wagging back and forth so hard he became unbalanced. 

Vlad pulled out a set of tickets when they got to the door and the man handed them two lanyards they quickly slipped over their heads, “I also got us special backstage passes to the speaker they have tonight.” 

Danny took a closer look at the lanyards, flipping his over so he could see the other side, his eyes going wide as he read it, “Vlad tonight’s speaker is Stephen Hawking…”

Vlad nodded, barely managing to suppress a grin, trying to act nonchalant.

“Vlad! Am I going to meet Stephen Hawking‽”

“I just thought it might be nice to talk to some people in the field—” Vlad started, keeping his voice even, like it was no big deal, like he didn’t know why Daniel had started vibrating beside him. 

“Oh my God… Oh my God Vlad I’m meeting Stephen Hawking!” He started tugging on Vlad’s arms as if to take them who knew where. He had no idea how he was supposed to stay calm for the rest of the day until the evening shows started. Hell he didn’t even know how he was supposed to stay calm when he actually met the man. Holy shit he was going to meet Stephen fucking Hawking, he was going to faint. 

It was beyond wonderful to watch Daniel become flustered. He pulled away from Vlad to walk in quick circles, hands waving in front of him as they were wont to do when he was excited. It was something Vlad found infinitely endearing.

He found, truthfully, that all of Daniel was endearing now, even the parts that had once annoyed him and perhaps he enjoyed those most of all. Vlad thought of the small, black cross body bag across his back, of the box that lay inside it. It would be a while yet before he asked Daniel to marry him, but he hadn’t felt confident enough to leave it behind in the car. It felt as if it were burning, as if it was vibrating along with Daniel’s shock and surprise. Vlad could feel the weight of it and he wondered if what Jasmine had said was true, that asking was the easiest part. 

He hoped so. 

Vlad hoped so because he needed it to be, he needed asking to be as easy as loving Daniel was, as natural as breathing.

“Vlad!” Daniel said, still swept up in his emotions and Vlad realized that he’d gotten a touch distracted watching him, opening his arms for Daniel to take his hands and hold them tight.

“I’m here, love.”

Daniel looked at him with so much wonder and happiness and excitement that it made Vlad feel as if he were going to explode, as if he was going to burn up from the inside like a dying star, “You don’t...you don’t know what this means to me, I mean you do, you’ve been in my head but… Vlad this is, this incredible I can’t… I can’t begin to describe, I — fuck, I love you so much, I can’t believe you did this.”

Vlad soaked in the words and smiled. 

* * *

  
A few hours later they were sitting beneath the main show area of the planetarium, Daniel bouncing a bit in the seat beside Vlad’s own as people filtered in. 

“Excited?” Vlad asked as he watched Daniel scan his program for the about the dozenth time since they’d sat down. 

“Yes!” Daniel answered quickly, too excited to even tease Vlad back. 

Why had Vlad ever liked seeing Daniel scared or worried? Why would he want that when he could have seen Daniel like this, beaming?

They’d spent the day exploring the planetarium’s museum section, Daniel carrying on about the exhibits, astrophysics, space missions, and more. Vlad had pitched in quite a bit, he knew a fair amount about space exploration himself given that some of his tech companies had their hands in the science. But just listening had been more than enough and a few times he had fallen silent and simply watched Daniel enjoy himself.

“One day I’m going to send you to space as an actual astronaut, you know that?” 

Daniel paused in his anxious movements, looking to Vlad with wide eyes, “Really?”

Vlad nodded, “Of course, we’ve got all the time in the world for it. All the time to learn, all the time to build a rocket, anything… everything, we can do it.” They could honestly probably do it fairly soon. Well, soon was a relative term given their immortality, but technically it would only take a decade or so if Daniel started pursuing the science officially. With Vlad’s money and his companies they could do it. 

Daniel’s hand met his own, squeezing his fingers with a comforting warmth that spoke of forever, “You’re right, we’ve got all the time in the world.”

The lights dimmed around them and the show began, Stephen Hawking coming onstage to begin the presentation. The planetarium lit up, leaving the room suspended in stars.

* * *

Daniel was on him the moment the penthouse door closed behind them, pinning him to the door and pushing his hands up and under Vlad’s shirt. 

“Mmph,” Vlad tried to start only for Daniel to kiss him again, his bag dropping haphazardly to the floor. “Daniel, maybe we sho—” 

Hands moved to his jacket, pulling at the front and stumbling further into the place Vlad had for when he visited NYC on business, still kissing him at first but then pulling back to look around, “Where’s the bed?”

“I was trying to say we should probably settle in first,” Vlad laughed as he pulled away from Daniel to take his hand, leading him through the penthouse. They floated up past a set of stairs to a loft master bedroom, Daniel getting slightly distracted from his previous groping to look around.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to how fancy all your things are.” He said, stepping close to a set of glass sliding doors that led out to a balcony, staring at the city. It glowed gold in the night, little squares leading to different worlds, lives pressed compartmentalized into hundreds of buildings, “Oh wow…” he breathed quietly, watching the people beyond the balcony. 

Vlad stepped up behind him, wrapping his arms around his waist, pressing their bodies close and kissing at his neck, “The bed is behind us, badger.”

Daniel turned around, slipping carefully from his embrace and taking his hand, “I see that,” he smiled in a way Vlad had memorized since their bonding and led him over to the king sized mattress, falling into it and tugging Vlad on top of him. 

It was slow how they met each other, Vlad’s body draping over Danny’s own as he pulled the elder halfa in for a deep kiss. Danny’s hands rose to frame Vlad’s face, the pair of them indulging in the gentle warm of a languid embrace. 

Vlad tasted like the wine he’d drunk at dinner and Danny chased it with his tongue as he tilted his head, Vlad easily letting him in with a low hum. 

Daniel sounded breathless already, pulling Vlad’s shirt off and tossing it to the side, taking just a moment to enjoy the feeling of their chests pressed together. Vlad sighed into the touch, Daniel’s skin cool and soothing against his, his heart beat strong against his ribs. 

Daniel was always so alive. Despite what they were he was always so real and full of life. His heartbeat was wild, he drug in air needfully as their lips broke apart, the blood in his veins ran and pooled with heat between his legs as Vlad thrust down against him. 

He said he would never get used to Vlad’s things, but Vlad himself would never get used to Daniel beneath him, to having someone so powerful, so strong, so confident under him, open and beautifully exposed. 

Vlad couldn’t quite remember when the rest of their clothes had been discarded, lumped to the floor along with their shirts. He was too swept up in how they felt together, how Daniel’s skin tasted under his tongue as he ran it up the side of his neck. Daniel’s nails moved down his back and Vlad arched into the feeling, greedy for the cut of them and Daniel granted his silent request, scratching hard to bring a stuttering moan up his throat. 

“Inside,” Danny groaned into Vlad’s ear as he thrust up, twisting his hips to rub their bare lengths together, “Inside Vlad, I want you i—”

“Shh, badger I know,” Vlad murmured lovingly, peppering Daniel with kisses, lips brushing along his jaw and under his chin as Daniel let his head fall back in a quick submission. “Stay right here, I need to get the lube from our bags, someone didn’t let us settle.”

Danny huffed, hand running through Vlad’s hair “You’re the one who came up behind me while I was looking outside so you have no room to talk.” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Vlad teased as he teleported away to get the lube from their luggage. He’d made extra sure to pack the kind Daniel liked the most.

When he came back to the bedroom Daniel was stroking himself slowly, eyes tracking him the moment he appeared in front of the bed. Vlad shivered, he loved watching Daniel touch himself. It always managed to bring a deep flush to his cheeks as it did now, Vlad crawling over the bed towards his soulmate who spread his legs so very invitingly.

“Ancients, you look gorgeous,” he said, Daniel smiling at him, leaning in for a kiss as he got close.

“You aren’t so bad yourself, fruitloop,” he hummed, hands lifting to smooth over Vlad’s chest and stomach before sinking down further and wrapping his fingers around his length, stroking him slowly.

Vlad groaned quietly, carefully opening the bottle of lube and almost regretting it as Daniel stopped touching him so he could shift back for better access. He slicked his fingers thoroughly, pressing one inside of Daniel as his soulmate returned to stroking himself so he could ease into the stretch better. 

As he prepared Daniel he leaned down and kissed at the tip of his length, licking away the precum there. Daniel pulled his cock towards his stomach exposing the underside and Vlad was quick to trace the vein with his tongue and slip further downwards to mouth at his balls, touching him gently.

The action gained him a moan, an “Oh… fuck, Vlad,” escaping Daniel’s lips. 

Vlad hummed his approval, showering Daniel with pleasure as he stretched him, sinking two fingers into his warmth and curling his fingers to brush against his sweet spot.

Danny’s hips stuttered, thrusting up involuntarily as he gasped. Vlad started to scissor his fingers in between moving them in and out slowly. Danny’s head fell back, biting at his lips as his eyebrows pinched together. He whined, it wasn’t often that Vlad was so slow but he always drew it out until he could hardly stand it when he did. 

He didn’t know if he could take that today. Danny wanted Vlad close and as much as he loved what Vlad’s mouth was doing and the feeling of his fingers, now three of them, inside him, Vlad wasn’t close enough. He reached down and tugged him close, pulling him into a hungry kiss.

Vlad welcomed how Daniel pulled him forward, meeting his lips with a soft groan as Daniel wrapped his legs around his hips, beckoning him closer still. Reaching between them he took his length in hand, steadying himself as he pressed against Daniel’s entrance, “Ready, badger?”

Daniel gasped, hips moving against Vlad to try and press him in faster, “Fuck Vlad, please,” he breathed and Vlad watched him struggle for just a moment, enjoying watching his soulmate try to urge him inside.

They both moaned as Vlad finally pushed in. Vlad buried his face in Daniel’s neck, the tight heat of the younger man around him making his head swim with pleasure, hips twitching with anticipation as he bottomed out. 

“V-Vladimir,” Danny whined in Vlad’s ear, hands at the back of his neck and across his back. The feeling of being full of Vlad was always intoxicating, but there was something about this, about moments like these where they were slow and quiet, where they held one another close, felt skin on skin and breathed in sync. Danny loved it, he always loved being with Vlad, but this was such a base and deep expression of his affections, rocking his hips up gently as Vlad rolled into him.

It wasn’t about finishing, there wasn’t really an end to chase. It was just about feeling it, feeling each other, being present. 

Vlad could spend forever like this, fully intended to in fact. He hadn’t had Daniel for very long, a year, that was all, and yet he couldn’t imagine life without him now. Daniel was his world and he knew the younger halfa knew that but he wanted to show it, to say it. That was the point of this trip, to show Daniel how much he loved the idea of forever, how much he looked forward to it. 

He pulled back just enough to look down at Daniel, just enough to see him, see the love and lust in his eyes and the flush across his cheeks. His hair cascaded over them to create a soft silver veil, blocking out the whole of the world. Daniel reached out for him, cupping his cheek and Vlad leaned into the touch, kissing his palm gently, “I love you,” he murmured, hands holding Daniel’s hips gently, thrusting into him slow and steady. 

“I love you too,” Daniel whispered back, rising gently, turning them over and Vlad let him, laying back as Daniel positioned himself above him, sinking down over him to begin riding. 

Vlad watched, near hypnotized as Daniel straddled him, hands running over his hips and thighs reverently as Daniel took him in again making him hiss lowly. 

Danny leaned over, supporting himself against the headboard rising and falling steadily, breaths coming faster and higher with each passing moment, eyes fluttering closed. 

Supporting himself on his elbow Vlad rose to kiss at Daniel’s chest, running his tongue over his nipple and smiling at the shiver he felt run through him, how he tightened around his cock. He bit down and Daniel gasped, hips slamming down faster at the jolt of pain.

“Vlad!” 

“Mm, I’m here,” Vlad purred, kissing at the red mark he’d left around Daniel’s nipple, his free hand smoothing over his right hip as he started to rock up into Daniel at a pace that matched his soulmate’s own movements, “Would you like more?” He asked, partially because he wanted to hear Daniel ask for it and partially because he wasn’t sure how much longer he could last himself. 

Vlad could feel how Daniel’s thighs shook, breath catching in his throat as he nodded, “Please Vlad, please— I want you to fuck me, I want you to cum inside me…”

He was more than happy to fulfill Daniel’s request, laying back so he could take both of Daniel’s hips in his hands tightly and take over the rhythm of their movements. 

Danny arched as Vlad thrust into him hard, picking up a quick but still fairly gentle pace that let him feel the drag of Vlad’s cock in and out of him. His hands splayed out against Vlad’s stomach, head falling back to leave his hair hanging haphazardly behind him. His length jumped between them, moving with each thrust as a string of precum dripped from the tip and down to Vlad’s skin in a way the elder halfa couldn’t pull his gaze from. 

A waterfall of soft praises began to pour from him, Vlad telling Daniel over and over how beautiful he was like this, how warm, how good he felt, how much Vlad adored every last inch of him. 

Danny’s chest heaved, Vlad’s praises filling him up alongside his length and he wanted more. He could feel the tug of heat below his navel, the spiral of pleasure winding tighter and he was once again hit with the heavy, all consuming desire to be close to Vlad, to feel and taste his skin.

Falling forward Danny gave into that desire, collapsing on top of Vlad, framing his face with his arms and kissing him deeply to say the words his mind couldn’t form at the moment. 

They breathed into each other, mouths meeting for only brief, hungry periods as they panted. Their eyes met and Vlad watched as Daniel fell apart with a hiccupped moan. He could feel how Daniel rutted his length against his stomach, how he sought extra friction there and then he could feel the warmth of his finish spreading over his skin as he tightened around his cock needfully. 

Vlad’s head fell back against the bed’s expensive silk covered pillows as he shuddered, thrusting a handful of times more as Daniel laved tiredly at his neck, kissing against the pulse point and running his fingers through his hair, “Daniel… Daniel, god..I—” he stumbled through a few more words but they hardly mattered. What mattered was how good it felt to finish inside Daniel, to press in as far as he could, to hold Daniel’s hips down and fill him until his cum leaked out around his length. 

Danny groaned lowly as he felt Vlad stiffen and finish, their lovemaking coming to an end as Vlad breathed heavy beneath him. He sighed, the sound full of love and belonging as he pressed their cheeks together. Vlad’s hands rose to pet him, to chase goosebumps across his arms with the swirling patterns his fingers took up as they moved. 

They both closed their eyes and thought about forever, thought about a bed like this one and many more to come. 

Perhaps they should have cleaned up, but after the trip, the day spent at the planetarium, and dinner afterwards they were exhausted. They could live with being sticky for a while. 

Danny whined as Vlad pulled out. The feeling of his cum leaking from him to smear down his thighs would have been enough to have him hardening again had he not been tired.

Vlad pulled Daniel into a close embrace and together they fell asleep, cocooned in one another’s arms. 

* * *

They spent nearly two weeks in New York, exploring, spending time together, and eating their weight in food. They slept in, stayed up late, went dancing, did whatever crossed their minds and more, basking in each other’s company. 

The world looked so different to Vlad now. When once he had visited NYC only to do business, hence his other home in the city, now he saw it through Daniel’s eyes as a place for endless exploration.

Daniel made it his personal mission to try as many different kinds of pizzas and hamburgers as possible and Vlad had thought his soulmate might die a second death when they’d found a restaurant that served hamburgers on their pizza, melted cheese cascading out from under the buns to meet the marinara sauce. 

They took so many pictures, ones of the food they ate, of the museums they visited, of Daniel petting every dog they came across. They’d place them later in their albums, but for now Vlad flipped through them on his phone as the jet took off towards their next destination. He smiled as he looked at them, stared down at Daniel’s grin, at how warm and soft it always was. God, what the other halfa did to him. 

Said halfa was asleep next to him, leaning over in his seat to rest his head against Vlad’s shoulder, snoring lightly. It was about nine hours to their second stop and he’d earned the rest, Vlad reaching out to run his fingers through Daniel’s hair.

Daniel snuggled up further one of his hands seeking Vlad and curling possessively around his jacket, “Mine.”

Vlad buried his face in Daniel’s hair, breathing in his early snow scent and closing his eyes, he wanted a nap too, “Yours.”

* * *

They stretched as they stepped out of the jet, the sun high in the sky, the air warm and filled with the weight of humidity. 

Daniel looked around as the airport staff welcomed them in Spanish, helping them load their luggage into a rental car Vlad had called ahead for.

“Gonna tell me why we’re in Bolivia?” Danny asked with a laugh, in between chatting a bit with a few of the staff. He wasn’t fluent but he’d taken some Spanish in high school and managed to retain a fair amount surprisingly, at least enough to pick up where Vlad had brought them. 

“Sightseeing, love,” Vlad answered vaguely, not wanting to ruin what he had planned.

Danny rolled his eyes good naturedly and let Vlad keep his surprise despite wanting to drag it out of him. Given that his last big surprise was as amazing as it had been Danny couldn’t imagine what Vlad had planned, but he knew he’d adore it. 

They drove to a rental home. Vlad didn’t have a permanent residence here, but that didn’t mean he was going to forgo the luxuries of a full home. The villa he brought them too had a large pool out front that sported a gorgeous view of the Andes Mountains, Daniel running outside to take in the view.

“Vlad look!” He shouted, arms spread out wide as he lost himself in the surroundings, sightseeing indeed. 

“I see them, little badger,” Vlad smiled, watching as Daniel took a running start and jumped into the pool, clothes and all. 

“I’ve never been outside America,” he said as he resurfaced, looking disheveled in a way that made Vlad want to scoop him into his arms and ravish him, “Well, if you don’t count the Ghost Zone and the time you stole the Infinity Map.” He swam over to the side of the pool where Vlad knelt down to meet him as he brushed his wet bangs from his hair, “Hey you got your phone on you?”

“Mm? No, I left it in the kitchen, why?” Vlad asked confused momentarily before Daniel surged forward to wrap his arms around his shoulders and pull him to the water. He toppled in clumsily, but he couldn’t even begin to be mad that he had been wearing his digital watch and expensive clothes because then Daniel was kissing him and his lips tasted like chlorine and he was pushing Vlad against the side of the pool, fingers wandering through his hair and up his sides. He wrapped his legs around Daniel and let his soulmate touch him all he wanted  
  


* * *

  
“You’re up early,” Daniel mumbled sleepily the next morning as Vlad stood over the stove, cooking up a spinach, ham, and cheese omelet, Daniel’s favorite. He rubbed at one of his eyes, clad in nothing but an open robe, bed head pressed into an odd cowlick. 

“We’ve got a long day ahead of us, thought I’d make some breakfast,” Vlad said as Daniel came up behind him, arms wrapping around his hips, face nuzzling against his neck and shoulder.

“Mm fruitloop, love you, love you, love you,” Daniel mumbled a soft yawn in his voice and Vlad leaned back into his touch. 

“Love you too, badger.” He hummed, trying not to get too distracted by the feeling of Daniel behind him. They didn’t need any burned eggs. “Did you sleep well?”

“Course I did, someone wore me out,” Daniel said, low and teasing, nipping at his ear, “Ancients you should have seen what he could do with his hips.”

Vlad smiled at the praise, “Sounds like you had fun.”

Daniel’s hand lowered to squeeze his ass hungrily, “I could stand to have some more.”

The suggestion in his voice and in his greedy touch brought a laugh from Vlad and he tilted his head, kissing Daniel for a short moment, “Later badger, breakfast is almost done.”

Daniel let out a huff against his ear, warm breath tickling his ear and brushing against his hair, “What if I said I was just going to pick you up and throw you back on the bed.”

“I’d say you could certainly try.”

He felt the heavy shiver that ran through Daniel, how his hands at his waist tightened, “Wanna fight?”

Despite not wanting to burn the eggs Vlad had to admit, he did. A smirk scrawled it’s way across his face, “Only if you can catch me.” With that he teleported away, Daniel quick to pursue as a Vlad clone took over the cooking for a while. 

* * *

The busy day Vlad had promised included an extensive hiking trip through the mountains, the two of them gearing up and taking time to be outside in nature, a welcome change from the city. 

Daniel took about a million pictures of everything, from the weird bugs Vlad couldn’t stand to look at to the sweeping vistas they came to as they climbed higher into the Andes. 

Around lunch Vlad covered Daniel’s eyes, “Okay we’re near what I wanted to show you.”

“I’m going to have to keep my eyes closed for a little while I’m guessing,” Danny laughed, turning around, being good and not looking. 

“Just for a bit,” Vlad said, taking Daniel’s hands and transforming. Here far on the trails they didn’t have to worry about anyone being around.

Danny felt Vlad’s ectoenergy fluctuate and knew without looking that he had shifted forms, changing to Phantom to follow him up and into the sky. It was odd to fly with his eyes closed, but he knew nothing bad could happen, even if Vlad were to for some reason let go of his hands he could simply stay floating. 

They didn’t fly for long, they were already near the crest outlook after all and before long Vlad let Daniel’s feet find the ground. “Okay you can look,” he said as he stepped to the side, giving Daniel a clear view of the world below the cliff he had taken them too.

Danny’s eyes opened slowly a small, “ _Oh_ …” escaping his lips before he lapsed into a long awed silence.

There, hundreds of feet below them and stretching as far as the eye could see was a mirror. The ground below simply wasn’t. Instead it was the wide, wild blue sky above, clouds reflected in the pseudo glass surface of the earth, a mountain range rising from the base of the cliffs they now found themselves in.

He was left speechless, it looked like a dream, like something out of a fantasy and that was saying something considering his life, considering all the incredible things he had seen in the Ghost Zone. 

“Welcome to the Salar de Uyuni salt flats, Phantom,” Vlad said, a twinge of pride in his voice at how struck Daniel looked. 

Danny heard Vlad, but didn’t, overwhelmed by the beauty of a space, by the sky that went on forever. He stepped out over the cliff, powers keeping him aloft momentarily before he lowered himself hundreds of feet to the ground beneath. 

When his feet touched the mirror a ripple cascaded out from around him. The water that covered the salt flat was only an inch deep, but looking at his reflection below him it seemed as if he were walking on hundreds of feet of water, balancing above hidden depths. 

Vlad came down to join him, the backpack they’d brought with them left up on the ridge. His cape arced in the air behind him, arms out just slightly as if he could possibly be unbalanced, dropping gently to the salt flat one foot first, a ripple of water, and then the other. Danny could see Vlad as an angel. He was ethereal and so seemingly unaware of it. Danny never would have thought about him that way before, thought of him as someone filled with an otherworldly beauty, but he was.

There were moments when Danny couldn’t look away from Vlad and this was one of them.

His photos never did Vlad justice, never even came close and Danny’s heart wrenched. He wanted Vlad to see him as he saw the other halfa, see him in those moments where he was Danny’s world, where he didn’t belong to the mortal realm or the Ghost Zone, not because he was both alive and dead, but because he was Danny’s and Danny’s alone. 

Moments where his steel silver hair hung above him when they touched, a halo and a shield from the world; moments where the sun caught his deep blue eyes and Danny felt he could fall into them as if they were a lake waiting to take him in and hold him close in an embrace only water could replicate; moments when his cheeks were stained with pleasured tears, where his voice was rough from moaning, where his fingers found his black hair and pulled— Danny wished he could capture those moments and give them to Vlad and so he did in the only way he knew how. 

As Dan.

As Dan their memories mixed and Danny gave those visions as offerings, as reverent gifts. Beyond the painful memories there were those that soothed all aches, those that spoke what words couldn’t and Danny knew he’d give Vlad this memory of the endless sky, of him coming down to the false glass to meet him, irrevocably beautiful. 

Love was a quiet thing. Even when it was loud, even when it was thunderous, it was quiet. Danny had never understood that until he’d found himself knee deep in love with Vlad before he’d even begun to realize it. 

Love was the drag of fingers across a wrist while they were out and about, a barely there touch. It was the press of their foreheads, breath shared between them. So much of their love was nonverbal, they said ‘I love you’ but what spoke louder was Vlad’s hand on his shoulder, Danny’s fingers across Vlad’s cheeks, the touch of their lips across any inch of skin they could reach. 

Vlad touched him now, took his hands in his own and squeezed and Danny knew Vlad didn’t want to be Dan because it would ruin the trip’s surprises but he ached for it.

And what an odd thought that was in and of itself.

That he ached to be Dan.

He’d spent years terrified of Dan, of what he meant, of the pain he brought, but now he longed to be him, to hold his soulmate in that way.

“When we’re Dan again,” he began, pulling Vlad close and twirling him around in a loose dance, their reflections gliding beneath them, “I’m going to show you this, show you this whole trip, what it’s meant to me, how happy I am.”

Vlad smiled at Daniel, smiled in that way that said, _‘I’m happy, I’m so, so happy too, because you’re here and you’re smiling with me and my hands are in yours’._

The point of coming to the salt flats had been to see the Milky Way reflected in the earth beneath them, to stand in the dome of the world and soak in the stars, and they were still going to do that, but now it felt like the point was this moment. Now it felt as if the point had always been this moment, or perhaps even broader, moments like these.

Not in a million years would Vlad have granted himself a fantasy such as this even a year ago. Twelve months was all it had taken for them to sink so deeply into the feelings they found themselves overwhelmed with. It was nothing, it was nothing, nothing, nothing and yet it was Vlad’s everything and he drank in each moment like a man starved for water. 

“I’ll show you too,” he promised, wanting to do so now, but he held back because he hadn’t asked Daniel to marry him yet, because he wanted just a few more moments like these to share later on.

And that’s when Danny knew.

How couldn’t he? Honestly he should have guessed sooner. They’d been ‘dating’ for about a year now, but it was so, so much more than that. It was even more than their soul bonds being complete. Their ghost cores had merged, they had seen one another bare in all respects, down to the motes of their identities, stripped of any lies or excuses they put forward to the world.

Of course Vlad hadn’t wanted him to see this, to see the question he planned to ask on this trip that was far more than an anniversary vacation.

Danny smiled, perhaps gentler than he ever had and kissed Vlad slow and lovingly. 

He wasn’t going to ask Vlad about it. He wasn’t going to rush him, push him into asking. No, Vlad was a creature of needed time, of pacing and plot. He had planned this entire trip, Danny had no doubt in any inch of his mind that Vlad knew exactly when and where he’d ask Danny to marry him. 

When the time came Danny would welcome it, would say yes over and over because he already was. As he held Vlad close now, as their foreheads met, as his eyes fell closed and he took Vlad’s scent into his welcoming lungs, he said yes.

Love was a quiet thing.

* * *

Vlad didn’t ask Danny to marry him in Bolivia. Instead they continued their trip after two more weeks of sight seeing. They’d spent their time exploring the mountains and visiting historical sites. Vlad had bought a suitcase worth of books on the local history and Danny had called him a nerd, but he was a nerd too so it was a loving expression. 

As with in New York City Danny prided himself on trying as much food as possible and he decided that he did want to learn how to cook. He’d picked up a bit over the past year from Vlad, but all the good food he’d tried during the trip made him want to learn more about the art and about other foods from around the world. Being immortal meant that he could take as long as he wanted to practice, try as many different things as he wanted to and a long existence was terrifying, but thoughts such as that made it an easier pill to swallow. 

Besides, he’d always have Vlad there with him.

Their next flight took about fourteen hours, time that Danny spent lounging with Vlad, messing with his long hair and chatting easily. A long time ago Jazz had taught him how to braid hair after he’d seen her doing it and asked how. Now he tucked Vlad’s hair back behind his ears gently to braid it as Vlad played a favorite football game of his where he was always the Greenbay Packers.   
  


* * *

They landed in the Canary Islands, tired from the flight and the jet lag and Danny laughed as Vlad slumped against the window as he drove the car to wherever they were going. Vlad had punched the directions into the gps and asked Danny to drive before falling asleep. Danny had been more than happy to, bringing them along the coast to a small, but cozy house on the beach where the sea breeze blew through the wooden structure and stirred up white curtains. 

Danny carried Vlad in, chuckling a bit as he stepped over the threshold because he was carrying Vlad bridal style and it made him wonder who would be carrying who on their upcoming honeymoon. Ancients, if Vlad had planned all this for their one year anniversary and what did he plan to do for their honeymoon? Danny could only imagine. 

He settled Vlad down in the large, soft bed and leaned over, kissing his forehead before heading out to the car to get their luggage. As he brought the bags in, setting them down in the living room Danny felt his curiosity itch at the back of his neck, sending a shivering tremor throughout his body.

Where was the ring?

 _Fuck_ … fuck that was a whole ass thought wasn’t it?

His gaze dragged over the bags. Was it even in a bag? What if Vlad had hid it in the jet. 

No. 

Something that important, Vlad would keep it on his person. Danny paused as he saw Vlad’s satchel bag, the one he’d kept slung over his back for a majority of the vacation. 

There.

It was there. Danny walked over to it, plucked it from the glass and woven wood coffee table. Vlad had hardly let the bag out of his sight for the entire trip and that couldn’t be a coincidence. 

The leather of it felt smooth as butter under his fingers as they tightened around the surface.

_‘Fuck, fuck Danny don’t, don’t look.’_

A frustrated whine slipped from him at his own thoughts, sending him bouncing a bit on his feet. He wanted to look so bad, so, so very bad. He wanted to know what the ring looked like, what it would feel like against his skin. His fingers found the zipper of their own accord, catching the silver clasp and pulling down and he knew Vlad was dead asleep, but even the quiet sound of that seemed loud enough to wake him.

He could hear the blood rushing in his ears, pounding through him as his world narrowed down. 

_‘Don’t, don’t, don’t Vlad would be so disappointed!’_

He reached in, pawed around carefully even as he trembled with anticipation, making sure not to disturb anything too much in case Vlad noticed his snooping. The man had gained a keen eye for it throughout the years. Even before they’d bonded he’d memorized the tell tale signs of a curious Phantom. 

Danny felt a box, small and suede. Air caught in his throat, his heart gave several hard beats. He lifted it out and looked at it and oh God, he’d figured it out in Bolivia that Vlad intended to propose, but seeing the box, fuck it made it so much more real. 

They were going to get married. They were going to have a wedding, invite their friends and family, dress up in fancy clothes, order a big, big cake. They would be family, bound together in yet another way. 

It was… it was big, amazing, absolutely wild. 

Tears pricked Danny’s eyes and he sat down slowly, coming to the ground and setting the bag aside, holding the box in his hand.

He was going to have a husband.

Danny didn’t know how long he sat there, in a country so far away from Amity, his home, his real one, just a few feet away in the bedroom. 

He couldn’t open the box. He wanted to. Part of him felt desperately like he needed to, but sitting there in the dark, clutching it in his hands as if it were the most delicate thing he’d ever touched, Danny couldn’t. 

That was Vlad’s job. It was for his soulmate to do when he was ready to, no matter how curious Danny was. Danny managed to press his curiosity down, washed away by a deep love for the man in the other room. He secured the box back inside the satchel, zipping the bag back up and setting it on the coffee table. He could look at the ring all he wanted to once Vlad gave it to him. 

He stood and walked to the bedroom, phasing his clothes off him as he walked to leave him only in his boxers as he crawled into the bed, tugging Vlad close and welcoming his warmth.

“You’re lucky I like you, you know that, right?” He grumbled as Vlad tucked against him with a happy sigh. Had it been anything else he would have torn the box open, it was just in his nature to snoop around. 

He watched Vlad sleep for a while, dragging his fingers across his line on Vlad’s throat. He’d hated the idea of this years ago, of his line, his initials, on Vlad. After Vlad had told him of their potential bond he had had nightmares of it. Now he dreamed of Vlad all the time, of his arms around him, of his laugh, of his touch. 

Danny closed his eyes and hoped he dreamed of his soulmate again.  
  


* * *

Vlad didn’t remember much after the jet had landed, tired from the lag and already half asleep from how Daniel had been playing with his hair. God he loved the feeling of Daniel messing with his hair. He had half a mind to grow it out so Daniel would play with it more. 

He woke up beside Daniel now, sighing as he felt his body across his back. He leaned into him, wiggling back a bit with a soft grin. If he wiggled just enough they would have a little fun. Vlad pushed his ass back, brushing against Daniel’s front until he felt him stiffen behind him. 

“Mm, Vlad…” Daniel’s hands on his hips tightened, thrusting forward slightly and Vlad felt pride swell in his chest at the thought of Daniel dreaming of him. 

He reached down and phased their boxers off, shivering heat tightening his gut as he felt Daniel’s bare erection press against his backside. Daniel let out a soft whine, rutting between his cheeks and Vlad groaned as the head of his cock caught against his entrance, smearing him with precum. 

Vlad rocked back against Daniel’s motions, quickly conjuring a clone to grab the lube from their bags. They should have learned better by now, known that they needed to unpack it before anything else and have it stocked by the bed, but he’d been too tired to do anything but pass out once they’d gotten in the car. His clone tossed the lube at him a moment later before disappearing and Vlad slicked his fingers, reaching down to press them messily into himself. 

He didn’t bother to give himself a full stretch, he liked the burn of being too full too fast and with their healing he recovered quickly enough whenever things got a bit too rough. 

Daniel continued to thrust gently against him as he took the younger halfa in his hand, coating his length with the lube before guiding him to his hole, lifting his leg to give him better access. Daniel’s hips jerked forward as he felt Vlad’s heat, thrusting in a rough, sleep addled stutter. The moan that broke free from his lips had Vlad pushing back greedily, helping Daniel shove in to his hilt and it stretched so good it made Vlad dizzy. 

In his sleep Daniel took his pleasure roughly, Vlad drowning in the few sloppy, hard thrusts Daniel gave before he jerked awake with a moan. 

“V-Vlad?,” the hands on his hips tightened again, squeezing until Vlad knew bruises would form as Daniel rocked into him, “Vlad, oh fuck…shit, god Vlad I love waking up like this,” he rambled, still half asleep and slurred, “God you’re so good to me, fuck I wanna rut you into the mattress.”

“Please…” Vlad managed and it was all the permission Daniel needed to turn him over, pressing him down on his stomach into the sheets. He tugged Vlad’s hips up just enough to give him leverage as he began grinding into him hard and deep. Vlad gasped, hands fisting in the fabric beneath him. 

Danny groaned as he looked down, watching his cock thrust in and out of Vlad was easily one of his favorite things and waking up to Vlad already so needy to have him was heaven. He slipped his hand forward to stroke Vlad’s length, his pleasure only mounting as he felt the slick of Vlad’s precum, saw how turned on he was.

Vlad whimpered as he was touched, Daniel’s fingers always blissfully yet shockingly cold against the heat of his cock. He thrust forward into his hand an action that only managed to press him further into the bed and ancients he loved being under Daniel, feeling his weight over him in a way that blocked out the entire world and encompassed him entirely. 

They both knew it wouldn’t last long, it hardly ever did in the mornings, but they savored every second, Vlad moaning and gasping as Daniel rolled into him. He could feel his end coiling tighter and tighter in his gut, length aching as Daniel thumbed his sensitive slit, stroked at the same pace as his thrusts. 

Danny reached forward with his other hand, fingers leaving their iron grip on Vlad’s hip to tangle in his hair and pull him up roughly to his chest.

Vlad cried out at the pain, the sensation sparking pleasure down his spine as he was forced up like a ragdoll, Daniel snapping his hips up into him at the new angle that made him feel even deeper inside him. His hand fluttered to his stomach, just behind where Daniel stroked him and pressed down as if he could feel the outline of his length inside him.

Danny smirked, “Feel me, Vladimir?”

Vlad nodded, gasping as Daniel’s hands tightened in his hair again and he felt a few stands yank from his scalp, “Y-Yes! Ah! D-Daniel I can’t...I’m going to—”

“Cum for me, Vlad. Let me watch and I’ll fill you.” Danny panted against Vlad’s ear, pupils blown wide as Vlad tensed, watching closely as his eyebrows pinched and he bit his lower lip. 

Vlad came at Daniel’s command, turning his face to Daniel’s neck, leaning into him and the pleasure he offered as his finished spilled across his soulmate’s fingers.

Danny didn’t last much longer, fulfilling his promise and thrusting hard one, two, three more times before shuddering his release into him. He nipped at Vlad’s neck as he did, as his peak overtook him and whited out his vision, leaving him floating in the afterglow. 

They breathed heavily together for a long moment until Vlad turned his face and kissed Daniel hungrily, tongue pushing past his lips, not caring about the morning breath, just wanting to touch him more than he already was.

“Mm, do you have any plans for today?” Daniel asked as he let go of Vlad’s hair and Vlad solidified his decision to grow it out more. 

“A few, but nothing that can’t be put off if you’re asking if we can stay in bed like this all day,” Vlad hummed, nuzzling into Daniel’s neck. He could go for a day spent lounging around making love. 

“That was exactly what I was thinking, fruitloop.”

* * *

A few days later the pair found themselves by the ocean.

Danny took a running start, arms kicking backward before swinging forward as he jumped off the side of the huge cliff Vlad had brought them too, legs kicking in the air before he curled into a tight ball, “Cannonball!” He shouted as he dropped from the sky into the crystal clear blue water. 

He hit the surface with a satisfactory crash, the salt water rushing in around him as he sent fish scattering in his wake before he popped back up to the surface. He swam over to Vlad who was sitting on a lowered deck of the fancy speedboat they’d brought out. Danny still wasn’t sure if they’d rented it or if Vlad had bought it, he hadn’t caught the full conversation Vlad had had with the woman who’d been at the docks that morning. 

“Hello, it’s nice to see you,” Vlad said, greeting him in the way that had become a bit of an inside joke between them since he’d said it after they’d unmerged from being Dan for the first time. He was leaning back in a chair, reading through a book he’d brought and taking in the sun even though they didn’t exactly tan or burn for that matter given how fast their skin cells regenerated from damage. 

“Nice to see you too,” Danny hummed as he placed his arms on the lip of the lowered deck, folding them and resting his head against his skin. “What ya reading?”

Vlad turned the cover to him, “Grendel, by John Gardner, it’s a retelling of sorts of Beowulf from the monster’s perspective.”

Danny’s nose crinkled, “Ew I had to read Beowulf in high school, the whole poem scheme was annoying. Figures you’d read something nerdy like that on vacation.”

Vlad rolled his eyes, “This one isn’t written in poetic verse, Daniel, although it might do you some good to learn to appreciate the classics.”

“I get enough literature stuff shoved in my brain when we become Dan, I think that’s plenty.” He said, dragging himself up onto the deck and he wanted to give Vlad a kiss but he knew if he leaned over him to Vlad would complain about him dripping water onto the book. “How’re you liking it.”

“Quite a bit,” Vlad said and Danny smiled, he loved it when Vlad admitted to liking things. 

It wasn’t something he had done often for a long while, hell, he was still somewhat sparse with it. Beyond the Packers, ghost research, his cat, and of course Danny himself, Vlad hardly ever said he enjoyed something simply to enjoy it. Vlad didn’t often let himself just be. It had been so nice to see him as relaxed as he’d been for the duration of his trip, how open and comfortable. Danny always wanted to provide that space for him.

“A bit heavy handed with the nihilism, though,” Vlad added, pulling Danny from his thoughts and causing him to bark out a laugh.

“Heavy handed with the nihilism? Now that’s something I’d never thought I’d hear you say, Mr. The whole world is against me so I’m going to take over the entire earth,” he teased as Vlad finally set the book down so he could come close to him, straddling him in his seat and grinning.

“I still could you know.”

“Could what? Take over the earth? Oh I’d love to see you try.”

Vlad leaned in as Danny took the kiss he’d been wanting, “You’re a pest you know that, always foiling me, even now you’re distracting me from my book.”

“I’m your pest, fruitloop. Besides, I’m much more fun to look at than a book.”

Vlad laughed, “Even I can’t argue with that.”

* * *

  
“See now I know why you took us to two very, very warm places, because his place is freezing!” Danny said as the helicopter landed on an iced over helipad about a week and a half later. Air whipped around them, freezing and unforgiving even for an ice core like himself. He certainly hadn’t expected their next destination to be Finland, Kilpisjärvi to be precise, but Danny couldn’t pronounce that to save his life. 

He had told Vlad as much and his soulmate had just laughed, telling him that as far as Finish words went the name of the town they were going to really wasn’t that complicated. The sentiment hadn’t comforted him in the slightest.

The Canary Islands had been magical. They had swam in the ocean, gone diving, Vlad had taught him the basics of surfing and sure he’d learned that Vlad could surf when they’d become Dan but damn seeing it in action had been hot as hell. 

Danny had decided that they needed to take a lifetime or two just living on a beach. The smell of the air, the way the tide rolled in and storms moved over the water, Danny had loved it. At first he’d thought it’d be like the lakes. He lived near such huge lakes for most of his life, what could be the difference? But the ocean had been worlds away from everything he’d ever known and he’d adored it. 

He’d stood so many nights on the balcony, just feeling the breeze in his hair and under his robe, leaning over the railing as he watched the moon. He’d close his eyes, breathe out a soft sigh and think, _‘this is where I’m supposed to be’._

Finland was a different story. 

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Danny asked as Vlad shut the helicopter off, he’d been the one flying it this time around. “You’re a fire core, aren’t you like… I don’t know, dying? Are you going to go into hibernation or something?”

Vlad chuckled as they walked to the cabin he had brought them too, the town of Kilpisjärvi left miles behind at the base of the mountains they found themselves in, “I wouldn’t have brought us here if I was going to go into hibernation.”

“Wait can fire cores actually hibernate?” He followed Vlad to the kitchen after they set aside their bags, the elder halfa pulling out the supplies to make them real hot chocolate, not the sort made in the microwave. It was a bit odd to think about being cold enough to want hot chocolate in the middle of summer but here they were. 

“Some can, yes.” Vlad said, turning on the stove and warming the milk.

“Is that why you like to sleep so much?” Danny hummed, coming up behind him to nuzzle into his neck and Vlad smiled, shaking his head.

“No, badger, I like sleeping because you’re there,” he said, knowing without having to look that the statement would bring a heavy blush to Daniel’s cheeks, “I like waking up beside you.”

Danny’s heart swelled with affection at the statement, it was cheesy as hell but he couldn’t even call Vlad out on it because he loved waking up beside the other halfa too. His hands fisted in the front of Vlad’s shirt, arms wrapping fully around him, “I love you, Vladimir, you know that?”

Vlad leaned back into Daniel’s touch, grabbing Daniel’s hand from his shirt and lifting it to his lips, kissing across the knuckles, “I know,” he said, wanting to bottle up this moment and hold it close to his heart forever. There was something so nice, so simple, in these domestic moments. With lives as long as theirs home would always be a shifting concept. They would move hundreds of times, but Vlad’s place would always be with Daniel. He hadn’t felt far from home this entire trip. “But did you know that I love you too?”

Danny laughed and nodded, “Yeah, fruitloop, I know.”

* * *

After they’d warmed themselves by the cabin’s large fire, enjoying the hot chocolate Vlad made along with a few snacks, they got dressed to head outside for a hike up the rest of the mountain. 

It was late evening, but Danny didn’t mind the night cold rolling in across the snow covered terrain. If anything he was still a bit worried about Vlad. Logically he knew Vlad’s core was strong enough to press out the cold and that he was telling the truth when he’d said he wouldn’t have brought them here if it was a danger to him. But he couldn’t help his protective instincts, circling Vlad as they walked out into the snow. 

Vlad laughed as he saw how worked up Daniel was letting himself get, his soulmate watching him closely as if he hadn’t lived dozens of winters in Wisconsin where it could often get just as cold as it was now. It was cute. Daniel was still a hero, even now, even when he’d stopped fighting ghosts, even after he’d left for years. The only difference was that his protective tendencies had narrowed to his close friends and family and Vlad in particular. 

Daniel liked to laugh when Vlad got jealous, but honestly he wasn’t any different, always keeping a watchful eye on Vlad, worrying over him and fussing. Vlad loved it, loved being the center of Daniel’s attention. 

He zipped up his coat pocket carefully as he bent over, making sure the little box tucked away there was safe before scooping snow into his gloved hands. He pressed the snow into a tight ball.

“You okay?” Daniel asked, hovering closer and Vlad took quick advantage of the situation, rising and throwing the snowball he’d made right into Daniel’s face. The momentarily affronted look on Daniel gave had Vlad laughing as he ran forward, knowing the other man would give chase and get distracted from where they were going as the sun went down. “You!”

Vlad tore through the snow, head tipped back with his laugh, breath curling into the air. Daniel followed, throwing a snowball at him that Vlad easily dodged. He looked back, “Come now, badger, you’re going to have to try harder than that!”

“Oh I’m just getting started!” Danny smiled, picking up another snowball and throwing it hard, laughing as it managed to land, hitting Vlad’s shoulder and scattering the snow across the stark black of his coat. 

Vlad was quick to retaliate, throwing two more snowballs back at Daniel in rapid succession. 

They picked up a war, each determined to win as they flung snow between them, swept up in the simple joy of it. They were running through the woods, dodging through the trees.

They were alive, despite everything.

They were alive and the cold air was burning through their lungs, scraping up their throats with its sharp ache that made their ribs feel bigger than their bodies. They laughed, high and bright into the night air and it didn’t matter if they were humans or ghosts or anything in between because they were each other’s. 

Danny tackled Vlad into the snow, sending the pair of them careening over an embankment. They tumbled end over end around each other, snow flying out in large puffs of gleaming flurries about them. They rolled down off the mountain, fall cushioned as spilled over into a clearing, the tree line fading away behind them. 

Danny landed on top of Vlad, still laughing and smiling and Vlad’s cold gloves came up to frame his face before dragging him into a kiss, their half frozen noses and cheeks brushing against one another. The temperature brought such a nice red color to Vlad’s cheek, the sort that was impossibly softer than a simple blush. 

He looked gorgeous like this, framed in snow, silver hair wild and disturbed from their tustle, red cheeked and breathing hard and Danny didn’t want to look away but he couldn’t help it as the world lit up around them.

The wide, blanketed clearing where the sound cushioned itself between the snowflakes became awash in green and blue, shadows moving across them against the moonlight. 

Danny looked up, rising slowly from Vlad, pushing up to look at the sky and the salt flats had been beautiful but this…

“The Northern Lights… Vlad, I’ve always wanted to see these…” he said, barely hearing himself as he stood, eyes glued to the sky as ribbons of light danced across the night. They stole his breath, making him feel so incredibly small in a way that offered wonder and comfort. 

The universe was indescribably huge and filled with such stunning phenomena and he was part of it. He’d been born into the world, up against the one in a quadrillion, billion odds to step into existence. So many things had to have happened in order to get him here, in order to bring him into existence and the whole universe had lined up to make him and Danny… Danny was glad to be alive and here and full of emotions.

He reached a hand up as if he could sink into the lights, wrap himself up in them and in a way he could. He could fly up, let the world fall away underneath him and he almost did but then he heard Vlad shifting in the snow and when he looked back his soulmate was down on one knee. 

And fuck…

_Fuck._

Tears blurred his eyes. Danny knew it’d been coming but he hadn’t known it would feel like _this_.

“Daniel.”

Vlad was looking up at him and his eyes spoke of so much more than love, than home, than any of it and fuck… how could anything feel like this? 

It felt as if the moment itself had repositioned the world, like it had squeezed him hard enough to still every last centimeter of himself. He couldn’t breath, his blood couldn’t move, his heart couldn’t beat, he was frozen solid and yet he was shaking, shaking so, so hard. He felt as if he might vibrate straight from his skin, might quake to pieces small enough to get swept up by the snow around him and carried off into the night like he’d imagined not moments ago.

“Fuck…” and fuck was right because Vlad was _proposing_ and he was going to be Danny’s husband and Danny was going to take the ring and accidently drop it somehow and it was going to be lost in the snow forever and it would be so embarrassing and wasn’t he supposed to say yes and not fuck and, _‘Oh god Danny! You already fucked it up!’_

Vlad had died before, but working up the courage to get on his knee while Daniel was watching the sky made him feel like he was dying all over again and it was worse this time. It didn’t hurt, but the nerves, the way his gut wound itself into a knot so tight it felt as if it’d never come undone, was overwhelming. 

Daniel looked back at him and Vlad froze up, stiffened, shook, pulled the box from his pocket and feared it’d slip between his trembling fingertips and just as he managed to push the words he’d been planning to say to the back of his throat Daniel spoke.

_‘Fuck’_

And what..? 

It wasn’t as if Vlad expected Daniel to say no or anything but, fuck? Really?

He blinked, blindsided and they wound up staring at each other for what felt like forever, tension and nerves stretching between them to wind tighter and tighter and Vlad was supposed to be opening the ring box and saying something, saying the words he’d planned, but he wasn’t and then everything just, snapped.

And Jasmine had been right. 

This was somehow the easy part.

Vlad laughed, deep and full because this was Daniel so of course he’d say something like fuck and Vlad loved him, all of him and they were going to get married he just had to give him the ring already, “Butter biscuits Daniel I had a whole speech planned and everything and now I can’t remember it, could you just come here?”

Danny’s muscles unclenched at Vlad’s words, happiness and relief taking over the moment as he heard Vlad’s laugh, saw his smile and felt his love in every syllable. This moment was so big and all consuming, but in front of him was Vlad, just Vlad and Danny knew him and loved him.

“Yeah I think I… I think I can do that.” He chuckled, near breathless as he stepped closer to Vlad who took his left hand in his free one. Being so close to him, to the moment, made him tear up even more, words pushing from him excitedly before he could think to stop them, “Yes! Yes I’m saying yes.”

“Daniel,” Vlad sighed and it was such a warm, familiar, open sound, “I’m supposed to ask first.”

“Oh…” Danny flushed deeply, “Shit, sorry, yeah, yeah you’re right okay, okay let me just—” Danny took in a deep breath, shook off some of the jitters still running through him and calmed his voice, “What would you like to ask, Vlad?”

Vlad let go of Daniel’s hand to open the ring box, holding it out, “Will you marry me, Daniel Fenton?”

Danny’s eyes widened at the ring. Part of him had expected it to be more flashy, but really it appeared quite simple. It was a bright silver band, a bit thicker than a typical engagement ring, with a line of bright magenta running through the middle. It seemed almost ordinary, but it was far from it. The magenta line was for more than show, imbued with Vlad’s ectosignature it hummed ever so slightly with his energy, giving a small tug at Danny’s core. 

“Oh Vlad… how did you…”

“I’ll tell you later, for now you have to answer.”

“I already sai—”

“Let me hear you say it again,” _‘please’_ , Vlad wanted to say, _‘let me hear it over and over again.’_

Danny smiled, “Yes Vlad, I’ll marry you.”

Joy spiraled throughout Vlad at the words and he longed to pull Daniel close to him, kiss him and never, ever let go, but there was still one last step. 

He phased Daniel’s glove off and ever so gently slipped the ring onto his finger, holding his hand tightly after, looking at the gleam of the ring, his ring, on Daniel. 

It looked right.

Everything about this was right and as Daniel moved forward, arms wrapping around Vlad as he joined him once more in the snow for a tender embrace, Vlad knew it always would be. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> T^T  
> This chapter was so soft I had to stop writing at points to just go ahhhhhhhhhh 
> 
> Also, hell yeah, switch Danny and Vlad they deserve it 
> 
> Also, also  
> How did Vlad do it? How did he get part of his ghost energy in the ring?  
> The answer is  
> I don’t know I’m not a freakin ghost scientist  
> But I know that the box had to have some sort of technology in it too to hide the ectosignature from Danny and therefore Tucker helped Vlad make it so he knew that Vlad was gonna propose too uwu  
> Actually let’s be honest with ourselves everyone knew before Danny did lol
> 
> I hope everyone liked the softness uwu  
> Next chapter is the last of the fic T~T the end of the epilogues  
> But also a wedding so *nice*
> 
> Also shoutout to Ghost Malone for betaing <3 thank you fam! If any of y’all haven’t read their pompep fic Equilibrium what are y’all doin with ur life 
> 
> As always, kudos and comments appreciated!<3


	20. Phantom of the Opera: Epilogue: Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter!  
> There will be another chapter after this with some notes from me about the fic cuz they feel too long to just leave at the end of this 
> 
> Fun fact this chapter includes Gally-hin's OC Camille, Vlad's secretary! You can look at how pretty she is here: https://gally-hin-phantom.tumblr.com/post/640296904610250752/camille-aka-vlads-secretary-i-often-see-vlads 
> 
> I love her very much and I hope to see her in other places throughout the fandom <3
> 
> Also! And this is incredibly important!
> 
> The title of this chapter is phantom of the opera because that’s a double pun.  
> Not only is Danny called phantom (obviously) but in an opera the Overture comes before the actual 'opera' section and this chapter is sort of like "all the other chapters were the overture to their lives, the beginning, and now we can glimpse into the opera."
> 
> So have fun glimpsing into the opera!

* * *

Six months after proposing.  
The day of the wedding.

* * *

Was planning a wedding in six months a pain? Yes. Was holding a wedding on Christmas a bit inconvenient for everyone involved. You bet. Was it the only day Danny and Vlad could get their ghost friends to agree not to start shit? Absolutely.

Danny and Vlad had announced their engagement not long after they’d returned from their vacation and Danny had been a smidge disappointed to learn that everyone but him had already known the purpose of their trip.

Vlad had asked Jazz for advice ages ago, agonized over the details with Dani, and built the ring with his ecto-signature imbued into it with Tucker. Vlad had even talked to his parents about it since his mom was still a little iffy on their relationship. It wasn’t that he needed permission. Vlad didn’t ask permission from anyone to do something he wanted, but he’d felt it only proper to inform them given that it would make them his parents in law.

Danny had shivered at the thought of that when it had first popped into his mind. It was just, well, odd. Vlad had spent years trying to kill his parents and before that he’d planned to bond with them. Now they were going to be his parents in law. The thought of Vlad calling them mom and dad was something he had immediately teased Vlad about, much to his fiancé’s dismay.

 _Fiancé_.

Danny really liked the word. It filled him with a warmth that seemed to buzz around the periphery of his being only to sink fuzzily into his core. He liked how it rolled off his tongue. He liked turning his ring round and round on his finger and thinking it, feeling Vlad’s ecto-signature in the band. He liked going places and saying things to strangers like, “Oh, sorry I need to take this call, it’s my fiancé.”

Luckily, not all of their ghosts friends had known and Danny had been able to surprise a few of them. Ember already considered them married given they had merged, so she wasn’t shocked by the news and neither was Skulker who she’d told or Clockwork who knew everything. But everyone else was fairly taken aback.

Unfortunately, Vlad had insisted upon having Ghostwriter as a guest at the wedding and as groomsman no less. That had lost him Tucker privileges. The elder halfa had wanted Tucker to be one of his groomsmen as well, but Danny had insisted that if he wanted Ghostwriter at their wedding Vlad would have to let Tucker be his best man.

They had quickly run into a few issues with the wedding party, namely, they both had the same friends. At the end of the day Jack had been picked as Vlad’s best man and his party consisted of Dani and Ghostwriter. Other than Tucker, Danny’s party included Sam, Jazz, Valerie, and Frostbite. Clockwork was supposed to have been with his party, but had insisted on officiating instead.

With the guests and their places worked out the pair had moved on to location, decorations, food, all the things that came with a wedding that Danny had no idea how to navigate. Thankfully Vlad had helped plan Jazz and Val’s wedding so he handled things for the most part. They decided getting married at Vlad’s Wisconsin mansion was the easiest. It was a nice venue. Vlad had hosted a wedding in it before and knew the companies nearby that were worth the money, and there was a portal to the GZ in the basement lab so their ghost guests could arrive.

It wasn’t as big as Jazz and Val’s wedding, inviting ghosts meant keeping extended friends and family off the invite list and working hard to make sure the news of Mr. Masters’ upcoming nuptials were kept out of gossip magazines.

Catering was interesting. All the food had to be prepared and delivered the day before and stored in the castle in order to keep people from seeing ghosts. Vlad had assured the chefs that he had a seperate set of event staff hired to serve dinner, but that job was actually being left to Vlad’s vultures.

Danny didn’t exactly trust that decision.

Despite all the ups and downs Danny was standing in front of a large mahogany mirror before he knew it. He was back in the room he’d met Vlad in during Jazz’s wedding, the room where he’d put on a borrowed suit and Vlad’s hands had come so close to his neck that he had nearly drowned in his now familiar scent.

Now a different set of hands were helping him because he still hadn’t managed to learn how to do his tie properly.

“You look so handsome,” his mom whispered as she looked up at him, set his tie just right against the crisp white collar of his suit and Danny was glad that he didn’t have to disguise himself today, not as Dimitri and not as a human because when he looked down he saw how she loved all of him.

She had taken a while to warm up to the idea of his bond with Vlad being romantic and Danny knew that those feelings involved more than her wanting to protect him from Plasmius. When he saw her interacting with Vlad and his dad he knew that she regretted a lot and still sometimes wondered what it would have been like if the three of them had become a trio.

Danny could understand that.

Despite being happy with Vlad he still felt a sense of loss when he thought too deeply about Sam and Tucker bonding. He was glad they were together, had each other, but in many ways it was bittersweet.

He’d always been a bit more like his mom than his dad.

A quiet understanding had grown between them, one they didn’t voice or look directly at, but they were on the same page now. His mom had once loved Vlad, just as Danny had loved Sam and Tucker, but life moved on and there was a tangible, if somewhat sad, beauty in that. His mom had never asked him to watch after Vlad in the way his dad had done, but she didn’t need to.

“Thank you, mom,” he said, thanking her for more than the compliment and for more than making him look presentable and Maddie understood.

She wasn’t part of the wedding parties. She wouldn’t stand at Danny or Vlad’s sides of the altar as a groomsmaid. No, she’d asked for a different job.

A little while into planning, during a regular get together where Vlad and his dad yelled at the T.V as if the football players on screen could hear them, she had approached Danny in the kitchen.

She’d asked to give him away.

He and Vlad had already decided that Danny would be the one walking down the aisle with the assumption that his dad would take the traditional spot of giving him away. However, Danny hadn’t hesitated to tell her yes. He’d wanted it to be her.

Tears were in her eyes now, Danny’s own vision blurring before he tipped his head back and blinked, “We can’t cry yet, the ceremony hasn’t even started.”

“I know,” Maddie began, “But… I love you, you know that right, baby?”

“I know, mom.” Danny said, voice holding an exasperation he hadn’t felt in a long time. It was the sort of embarrassed sigh that a teen might give when posing for pre-prom photos and that thought made him laugh, looking back down at his mom so she could gently wipe away the tears he hadn’t managed to blink back.

Despite everything, this was normal.

It was normal for his mom to fuss over him at his wedding, it was normal for her to cry with him, to fiddle with his tie despite having already fixed it. He could imagine her doing the same for Jazz, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear and wishing her luck.

“I love you too,” he said, glad that they could have this moment together. He’d been back for a while now, but time had flown by. Swept up in the momentum of being with Vlad Danny thought that perhaps he hadn’t spent enough quiet moments with his mom. He looked forward to the years to come, to more moments like this. He hadn’t appreciated them as much as he should have when he was a teenager. Part of that was because he’d been a teenager and that’s just what teens tended to do, but part of it was because they hadn’t seen one another. She hadn’t known who he was and he hadn’t taken the time to see her as more than his mom and a ghost hunter.

That was changing and little by little he was finding that he liked who she was beyond her familial tie to him. If they'd been strangers, Danny liked to think they would have become friends.

“I’m proud of you,” she said and it cut through his chest, quick and precise like a needle jamming into fabric to pull a thread through. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard her say that and it wasn’t as if he didn’t know she was proud of him, but hearing it was different.

He closed his eyes and she carefully cleaned away the new tears from his cheeks before they could stain his skin, “I am, Danny,” she continued and he shook his head, grabbing one of her wrists and managing a very wobbly smile.

“I know, mom… I know, but if you say stuff like that I’m going to be a mess when I walk down the aisle!”

She laughed and he managed to open his eyes and put on a rather dramatic pout, “I better save it for later then. It won’t be much longer now.”

* * *

A few rooms away Vlad was on the verge of a meltdown.

He paced back and forth in the guest room he was getting ready in, black shoes hitting the wood floor in increasingly distressed thunks as he wrung his hands together.

Why was he so nervous‽

He’d done plenty of nerve wracking things! He was no stranger to high stress situations, why was this any different?

Idiot! This was different because it was Daniel. It was Daniel and he loved him and oh ancients he was going to have to recite his vows and what if Daniel hated them, what if he thought they were awful, he should have just stuck to the normal vows instead of writing his own, but no, no Daniel deserved original vows and—!

A knock came at the door and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Was it time already? He wasn’t ready. He was still breathing too fast and everything felt too loud and god he’d kill for some whiskey to settle his nerves right now.

“Sir?” The door popped open just a bit, a familiar head peeking in through the crack.

“Camille!” He said, trying to sound calm and utterly failing as his secretary stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. She’d figured out the ghostly side of his life not too long after Daniel’s return thanks to his soulmate’s habit of showing up to his office during his lunch break for impromptu makeouts. Explaining why he’d had someone who obviously wasn’t Dimitri bent over his desk had been a bit difficult, especially since the man he’d been with had looked oddly like his best friend's dead son.

He and Danny had ended up deciding to bring her into the loop for simplicity’s sake. Camille had been Vlad’s secretary for years and he trusted her, not to mention she sometimes had to come by the mansion and there was no way Daniel was always going to be disguised as Dimitri.

At this moment he was glad they had. Jack had come in to help him get ready a little while ago and had only made things worse. Jack was nervous too and the pair of them had only served to work each other up. He needed someone more level headed

“Everything good in here?”

“Yes,” Vlad said, nodding too fast and knowing it was a lie, but he was unable to verbally admit that he was a little less than okay.

She frowned at him, looking down at her watch even though odds were she already knew the time, “You have fifteen minutes.”

Vlad’s fingers flexed are his sides, he tried to drag in a deep breath and focus on the feeling of his chest expanding, “Talk to me.”

And she did, as she always did when he was frazzled and running out of time to calm himself, “All the guests have arrived, the decor is immaculate, word from Daniel’s room is that he’ll be ready on time, everyone knows their places and are set to take them, we are running right on schedule, no one is fighting so the truce is holding strong and w—”

He listened to her, envisioned the wedding in his head, following along with her checklist, counting silently to himself, _‘one, two, three’_ everything and everyone was in order. It was a stressful day he’d never truly thought he’d arrive at, but everything was under control, his control. He was going to be fine.

His vows could be the Packers starting lineup and the most Daniel would do was laugh good naturedly at him. He’d still love him and that’s all that mattered. Even if he wasn’t a poet Daniel would still say yes and at the end of the day they’d be husbands.

He managed to bring himself under control. Vlad was still nervous, there was no doubt about that, he probably would be until Daniel kissed him and made it official, but he was presentable. “Thank you,” he said to Camille and she nodded. He was thankful that she didn’t try to offer up words of encouragement because they would have only served to wind him up again.

From all the business meetings she’d gone to with him she understood this, staying calm and collected, not bringing any attention to his worries while simultaneously soothing them.

“It’s time,” she said a few minutes later after he’d smoothed down his suit and hair in the mirror. He was ready.

* * *

Standing at the altar Vlad was sure he’d combust. His hands tightened in front of him, heartbeat hard in his chest. Moments like these had become so incredibly common. Moments where Daniel reminded him that he was alive happened everyday and this was just like all those other times and more. Vlad thought, as he stood as still as he could manage under the glittering wreaths they’d decorated the altar with, that dying was the second best thing that had ever happened to him.

The members of his wedding party stood near him, waiting for the music to pick up and for Daniel, escorted by Maddie, to appear. Vlad couldn’t remember the last time a few minutes had lasted so long and as he shook he found there was little else for him to be other than a bundle of live wire nerves, sparking against wet pavement with anticipation and the threat of losing what composure he had. How did people do this? How did people all around the world marry the loves of their lives every day?

Vlad could remember Jasmine and Valerie’s wedding, how calm they had seemed and he wondered if they had been falling apart like this.

The music rose around them.

And then Daniel walked in through the open door.

* * *

His mom’s arm was tight around his and as Danny looked down at her she smiled up at him, squeezed him just a bit tighter still, “You ready?”

Danny nodded, his mouth feeling too dry to speak as they came to the room they had chosen to have the main ceremony in. It was far too cold outside to host an outdoor wedding, but so much of Vlad’s castle was beautiful and with his flair for gothic architecture a fair amount of the rooms looked like churches, so it all worked out. This room, which had once been a long, open dining hall, even came with stained glass windows through which afternoon winter light drifted in, painting the altar in blue and red strokes of color.

They stepped into the room, music curling around them and Danny saw Vlad there waiting. The soft smile his soulmate sunk into upon seeing him made Danny want to walk faster, made him want to run to the altar. They’d practiced him walking down the aisle, practiced the speed and how his mom would gently let go. But seeing Vlad now had him longing to bolt, to crash into Vlad’s arms and hold him.

He was Danny’s everything and he ached. He wanted to pull Vlad to him and spin him around until there was no beginning or end to them, until their hearts and cores met as they did when they merged. He wanted the colors of them to bleed over and make their world anew and there was an uncompromising beauty in the knowledge that they could.

Vlad could hold him like he wanted, hold Danny closer than anyone else could ever dream of. Vlad could know him and love him, could feel the very last inches of him, could tip over into him and breath through their lungs.

* * *

Seeing Daniel there in the arch of the doorway Vlad felt the need to reach out, to meet him and wouldn’t that be a sight, them crashing together halfway down the aisle and choosing to get married there?

Daniel was beautiful and Vlad had seen him in a suit before, he’d sat in on his soulmate’s fitting. Yet here, now, Daniel looked even better than he had back then when Vlad’s personal tailor had come to outfit him.

And some of Vlad wanted to say this couldn’t be real, that he needed to wake up and put such delusions away and a year or so ago he probably would have believed those thoughts, would have let self doubt wheedle its way into him, but then Daniel was smiling at him.

That smile spoke volumes of how far they’d both come, of how things had changed for them. Vlad wasn’t sure if he’d ever shake the feeling that he didn’t quite deserve all he’d gotten, it was a predisposition of his to fall into morbid thoughts about life being cruel to him, of people leaving him behind, but he knew he only need ask Daniel to reassure him and he would.

The world looked nothing like he had imagined it years ago, when he had dreamed of forcing humanity into submission, into tiny neat boxes where he could play ruler, and Vlad was thankful for that. Trying to organize life, to force it into a shape it didn’t fit, had only ever caused him pain. The pursuit of perfection meant denying that true perfection allowed room for flaws, for the messes of life that gave it meaning.

There were a lot of regrets that still lingered within him. Part of Vlad understood that would never change, but he was learning to see around them, to take them as they came and apologize and mean it.

He wished he had been kinder to Daniel sooner. He wished he didn’t still dream of all the times he’d hurt him. He wished he’d reached out to Jack and Maddie years and years ago. He wished he’d been a father to Danielle, a real one, before she’d gone off and made a life for her own. He was proud of her, glad she’d found that strength, but she’d never call him her dad and out of everything Vlad found that that hurt the most.

Now wasn’t the time for looking back though, now was for looking forward, for taking Daniel’s hands in his own and making a promise of forever. His fiancé stepped towards him, coming closer by the second and Vlad felt, no, knew, that he was falling apart and he was happy, so, so blissfully happy that he was because he never wanted to fall apart for anyone else.

Daniel reached the altar and their hands found each other, fingers tangling and Vlad spoke through the tears already pressing down on his vocal cords, “Hello, it’s nice to see you.”

Danny laughed, soft and warm in a way that suggested they were in private despite being a room filled with their friends and family, “You’re really going to say that cheesy line at our wedding?”

“Well it’s true, it’s nice to see you.” Vlad said before Clockwork cleared his throat and Vlad’s cheeks stained a dark red because swept up in the moment he’d almost forgotten that an ancient was officiating their wedding.

Clockwork looked out over the small crowd and smiled, beginning his spiel.

Danny held Vlad’s hands tightly as Clockwork spoke, welcoming their friends and family to their wedding and introducing them, the soon to be newly weds. He could laugh and he almost did as he pictured his teenage self somehow seeing this. He would have had a conniption. If Clockwork had sent him forward to this timeline he would have begged the ghost to help him prevent it, would have fought tooth and nail to avoid this moment. Now he’d do everything within his power to ensure that they stayed happy like this.

Life was weird. There wasn’t really a better way to describe it. One could use fancier words, drag the meanings out of the seconds of their lives, but Danny thought that ‘weird’ encapsulated it best. Existing was a bizarre, fluid, funny thing with its up and downs and he knew there would be days when he hated the unpredictability of it, but at moments like these he couldn’t help but to love it.

He wanted to be messy and in love and weirdly, wildly ordinary with Vlad. He loved that ghosts were at his wedding and that they were getting married on Christmas even though he still hated the holiday. He loved how ridiculous it was that Vlad’s clumsy vultures were supposed to serve dinner and bring out the cake. He loved that his parents had in fact still brought some ghost weaponry that he and Vlad had had to confiscate. He loved that Ember had managed to make Skulker wear a tie and Clockwork’s wedding attire was just his regular, everyday robe with a bow perched on top of his staff.

It was surreal and everyone looked out of place and Danny _adored_ it.

The time came for them to say their vows and Danny felt his nerves spike in his chest. He’d never enjoyed public speaking.

“I’m nervous…” Danny admitted quietly, he was up first. They’d flipped a coin on it because they'd both known they’d be wrecks. He only hoped that their guests didn’t hear his stressed whisper.

“It’s okay I’m here,” Vlad reassured and almost leaned in for a kiss before remembering that he couldn’t do that yet. “I’m nervous too.”

Danny took a second to steel himself, narrowing his focus down to the warmth of their hands and Vlad’s presence as he began.

“There’s not much to say. V-Vladimir you know everything about us… you even know that I love that about us, that I love that you know me and that I love how you’ve taken something, someone, I was terrified of for years and made them into a way to say I love you,” Danny said, loud enough for their guests to hear as he’d practiced, but meaning them just for Vlad, the words a soft conviction between them that he let burn against his chest.

“I’ve… I’ve thought a lot about what I'm supposed to say now. I read over the traditional vows about how I’m supposed to have and hold you, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, for better or worse… but, you already know all of that and I don’t think… I don’t think those are the words you need to hear.”

The tears he’d struggled to suppress in the dressing room were back in full force and he had to take a quick second, during which one of Vlad’s hands slipped from his own to cup his cheek and he found that in the course of pouring his heart out in front of everyone he’d looked away from Vlad’s face and was now pointedly staring at his tie.

He looked up, let their eyes meet and saw tears in Vlad’s eyes too and Danny was sure that he’d never get used to seeing Vlad cry, whether out of joy or sorrow. He lifted his now free hand and returned Vlad’s favor of brushing the tears from his cheek as he continued.

“No, Vladimir, what I want you to hear, is that I love you on _purpose_. I’m glad it’s you and I think it was always going to be you because now I can’t picture myself with anyone else and I want you to know that as your husband I will tell you that as many times as you want. Whenever you need to hear it I’ll tell you, tell you that I’m staying right here beside you. That’s my vow to you, Vladimir.”

They were quiet for a moment, Vlad taking in the words that, as Daniel had said, he’d needed to hear. He tilted his head, kissing Daniel’s palm, longing to burrow himself in the warmth of it, but knowing they had to finish the ceremony. Tonight he’d wrap Daniel up in arms and never let go, for now his nerves jumped inside him and made it monumentally difficult to start the words he’d practiced in the mirror a million times.

Danny could see the gears turning in Vlad’s head now that it was his turn to speak, see how his mouth opened and closed momentarily and he couldn’t help how he laughed, the sound breathless as he pressed their foreheads together and distracted Vlad from his own overthinking with a tease. “You’re crying.”

Vlad took the bait instantly, “So are you, Daniel.”

“Am not,” Danny said, coaxing Vlad further into the small argument, wanting so badly to pull him closer than he already was, but he settled for the small bubble of false privacy their squabble provided.

“Are too.” Vlad said and he knew what Daniel was doing, he knew his soulmate was distracting him from the nerves and joyful tears that threatened to choke him and he was thankful that Daniel said _‘I love you’_ in this way too.

“Am not.” Danny responded and they could have gone on like that for quite some time but then Clockwork coughed and Vlad pulled back, took a deep breath and spoke.

“Okay, okay I’m starting.”

“If you say the word Packers even once I swear t—”

“Daniel!” Vlad hissed and the sound of his annoyance brought a laugh from their friends and family, something that only made him blush more and Danny adored the flustered, yet loving look on his soon to be husband’s face.

“Sorry, sorry,” he apologized quickly, thumb running under Vlad’s eye, following the bone there, loving all that Vlad was, “Yes?”

Had this been any other moment Vlad would have grumbled that Daniel was a pest, but Vlad knew that if he didn’t speak now he likely never would. His nerves would fill him up again, choke at the back of his throat with the weight of them and render him silent. So he made a mental note to get back at Daniel later, beginning his vows instead.

“Daniel, you are, without a doubt the single most annoying person I’ve ever met,” his words not moments ago were proof of that, “It is perhaps the trait that I find most endearing about you and you know how it pains me to admit that.”

Daniel chuckled at that and Vlad felt his heart skip at the sound, at the affection and devotion in the notes.

“You have a way of making life exceedingly messy and the ancients know,” Vlad glanced over to Clockwork with a smile and the ghost offered him an understanding nod, “That we are both clumsy when it comes to just about everything, but I vow to be there with you through it all, the ups and the downs, even if our approaches to life tend to be a bit graceless.”

Graceless was perhaps an understatement given how royally they had both managed to mess up huge parts of their lives, but they didn’t need to get into that at the moment. It was their wedding after all and they had years ahead of them to tease each other about it all while messing up in new and exciting ways.

“I’ll try again with _you_ , Daniel. Every time we fall down or end up in some petty fight, I’ll try again. I’ll grow and I’ll change right alongside you and I vow that I will always love you, no matter how the both of us continue to evolve seemingly into the infinite, because I fall in love with you, with every version and instance of you, every day.”

“Promise?” Daniel whispered and even Vlad couldn’t seem to wipe away all the tears that slipped over his soulmate’s cheeks.

“I promise, Daniel,” He said, reassuring him just as he always would as they were handed their rings, clutching the small pieces of jewelry in their hands.

They had opted to keep the ring Vlad had given Danny as his only ring, and Danny had worked hard alongside Tucker to craft a ring that carried his ecto-signature as well. The middle band of it burned a bright green as he held it out, gently slipping it onto Vlad’s fingers and murmuring the words, “I give this ring as a sign of my love.”

Vlad squeezed their fingers together once it was placed, letting his core reach out and feel the brush of Daniel’s ecto-signature before offering Daniel his ring, carefully slipping it onto his finger as he had a few months back under the Northern Lights, repeating Daniel’s words, “I give this ring as a sign of my love.”

Their vows given and the rings exchanged, Clockwork spoke again, looking between them before settling his gaze on Vlad and asking, “Do you Vladimir Masters take Daniel Fenton as your wedded husband?”

Vlad nodded, “I do.”

Clockwork’s gaze shifted and Danny smiled at the familiarity in his eyes. He owed Clockwork a lot and he knew the ancient would continue to look after them even though that had reached this important point in their lives, “And do you Daniel Fenton take Vladimir Masters as your wedded husband?”

“I do.”

With those words Clockwork declared them married, words that the both of them hardly heard because they meant that they could finally kiss one another.

Hands framing each other’s faces they melted into one another, suddenly and filled with the need they’d both felt as they’d stood so close to one another reciting words of love. Their lips pressed together, utterly overwhelmed and happier than either of them had ever thought they'd have the chance to be

Danny wrapped his arms tightly around Vlad as they separated and he wasn’t quite sure how long they’d kissed, but he knew it hadn’t been a quick peck. They couldn’t help it though and he smiled until it hurt his cheeks as Vlad’s hands found his hips, picking him up and spinning him around.

“I love you, Vladimir,” Danny said and his husband held him close.

“I love you too, Daniel.”

* * *

Year one

* * *

Dan liked Christmas. Despite Danny having spent a fair portion of his life disliking the holiday Dan couldn’t help but enjoy it. It was his wedding anniversary after all.

They had awoken separate, but they’d quickly found themselves merging together against the bed and it was like the first time except Dan hadn’t felt any urge to split.

It was like that sometimes now.

Sometimes he was Dan simply to be so. He had spent a long while training and had become comfortable existing outside the Ghost Zone and around his family. Sometimes he spent days as Dan, Danny and Vlad basking in the ability to be close. During those periods he went about their days as normal, claiming to be a business partner of Vlad’s that he trusted to run meetings and do paperwork. He hung out with Sam and Tucker, visited with Jazz and Valerie or Danielle and her partner, Reese. Dan even spent time with Jack and Maddie, although that had taken a bit longer to get used to considering Vlad and Danny’s differing views of and feelings towards them.

When he was Dan Jack and Maddie were simultaneously his parents, his in laws, his best friends, and his past potential soulmates. It was complicated, but that was part of existing for them at this point so Dan ran with it and eventually interacting with Jack and Maddie became normal. To them Dan was a different person and he treated them as different people in return, creating new bonds that he found himself cherishing outside of Danny and Vlad’s influences.

After their wedding they had gotten officially married in a very quiet ceremony as Vladimir and Dimitri Masters at the local courthouse and on paper that’s who they were since Danny was still dead. But in private they were Vladimir Fenton-Masters and Daniel Fenton-Masters. Dan liked the last name too and although he had little chance to go by, or be called it, he still considered himself as such.

He liked to think it to himself sometimes, think it in the quiet of his bed where Danny and Vlad’s scents mixed and he felt at home and whole.

Dan thought it now as he looked over his living room which was decorated for a Christmas and anniversary party. In his mind Vlad offered up visions of the past Christmas parties he’d held here with their family, comparing the decor and checking that everything was alright while Danny warmed himself by the glow of Vlad’s thoughts.

Soon their family would be here and they’d celebrate. They’d open presents, eat good food, drink good wine, and laugh. He was glad to be there for those moments, he was glad that he was more than Danny had feared him to be even though that fear had been justified and understandable.

There was a joy he found in existing, a quiet, passive happiness in the moments he spent simply breathing. It was beautiful seeing the world through Danny’s eyes, Vlad delighted in it, and those feelings ran in reverse as well, Danny loving how Vlad looked at things. At their wedding Danny had called Dan an expression of love and he was. Dan experienced life in a unique way, just for them. He found comfort in the smallest moments and oftentimes being him was a way of stepping away from the more hectic parts of life.

He would look in the mirror and feel how Danny could see Vlad in him, how Vlad could see Danny. At the start Vlad had said he looked like a badger and that it was cute. Danny had revolted against the idea but now Dan knew it was true, he did look a bit like a badger and it was funny and endearing, even attractive. Speaking of which they had managed to fool around as Dan a little bit, it was still something they weren’t quite one hundred percent on, but that was okay. There was no rush to anything, they had, Dan had, forever. Forever to live and love and explore himself and all that that could entail.

He took a small sip of hot chocolate. He’d prepared some for himself while checking off the last few things for the party and he knew he’d have to make more once his guests arrived. He let the flavor of it fill him up and sighed softly. Vlad had made hot chocolate for them the night he’d proposed. It tasted just as sweet now.

* * *

Year six and a half.

* * *

“Is aunt Jazzy going to be okay?” A small voice asked, tugging at Vlad’s pants as he stood by the hospital’s soda machine, an orange soda clunking to the bottom. He leaned down to pull it from the basin and to get eye level with Clemont.

“Don’t you worry, Aunt Jasmine will be perfectly alright,” he reassured, picking Clemont up as he stood, the worried five year old wiggling a bit in his arms and reaching out for his soda, “Now, now I don’t think your mother and father would approve of you drinking soda this late at night.”

Clemont’s face screwed up, frustration shining in his eyes before he argued, “But it’s already passed my bedtime, Uncle Vlad.”

“So this can’t make it worse?”

“Nooo,” Clemont tugged at his arm and Vlad relented, handing the can to the boy who immediately drank it as if he hadn’t had anything for days.

“Do not tell your parents,” Vlad grumbled, and Clemont nodded. Sometimes he wondered if he spoiled the boy too much, but he’d found he was quite prone to it and he knew it wasn’t a habit he was going to be able to give up anytime soon.

“How long’s it take…” the boy asked once he was done drinking and Vlad frowned as he saw the snot around the rim, tossing the can into a nearby waste bin. Ah well, it wasn’t a huge loss.

“Having a baby is a serious business.”

Clemont didn’t seem to like the answer, squirming more in Vlad’s grip, “Lemme go,” he whined, placing his arms against Vlad’s chest in an attempt to spring free even though such an action would cause him to bowl over messily onto the floor.

Vlad sat him down gently, letting the boy run a little ways ahead of him before Samantha and Tucker appeared around one of the hospital’s many winding corners.

“Mom!” Clemont ran faster, careening into them to be immediately scooped up by Samantha and she sighed heavily, “Oh thank god you found him, someone,” she paused for a moment and they both knew why, “was supposed to be watching him.”

Daniel’s head popped out of a nearby wall and he winced, “Sorry, Sam, really he was just there one minute and not the next and I—”

“Danny!” Clemont cut Daniel off with his scream of delight at seeing his uncle’s head phased through the wall. Daniel proceeded to come fully into the hall, still floating as Clemont laughed at his ghostly appearance.

“He’s really worked up, huh?” Tucker asked and Vlad nodded.

“Should have heard him on the way over, he was practically yelling at Jasmine over the phone, trying to do breathing exercises with her.” Vlad said, Samantha setting Clemont down so he could show Danny something in his pocket that Vlad suspected was a dead bug.

“We only left them for a few minutes to pick up some food from across the road,” she said, Tucker wrapping his arm around her. They looked tired but Vlad supposed they all did considering it was the middle of the night. “We thought Celmont would be asleep by now.”

“And why would you think that?” Vlad chuckled softly as he watched his husband talk to Samantha and Tucker’s child. They had adopted the young boy a little over a year ago and he had quickly become thick as thieves with Daniel, something that always made Vlad’s chest hurt, “He and Daniel are far too alike. They’re winding each other up.”

Samantha groaned, “God, don’t say that. I don’t think we can handle another Danny.”

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Vlad said, voice grave as he shook his head with a dramatic shrug.

“I’m not going to be running around in the middle of the night with him,” Tucker laughed, “We got enough of that in high school hunting ghosts.”

“He’ll find his own group of incredibly annoying teens to run around with, trust me,” Vlad said, smirking as they shot him lighthearted glares.

“Have you heard anything?” Samantha asked.

“Valerie is in there with her now and Jack and Maddie are on their way, but other than that, no.”

Vlad had never been around for a birth. He’d never been close enough to someone having a child to be invited. In the years since he’d become close to Jack and Maddie again he’d wished at certain times that he had been around for Jasmine and Daniel’s births, but that time in their lives had long passed and he tried not to think about the past as much anymore.

Days like today made it hard.

It was supposed to be a happy occasion, Jasmine and Valerie having their first child, and it was… but Vlad couldn’t help the sense of melancholy that had been steadily growing inside him since Jasmine had announced her pregnancy. It wasn’t as if Vlad hadn’t known Jasmine and Valerie wanted children. The process of In-vitro fertilization was a long one and he and Jasmine had become surprisingly close over the years. They’d had quite a few discussions about medical procedures and the like. But knowing she was pregnant and being here in the hospital now twisted up long buried feelings that Vlad didn’t like to look at.

He knew Daniel could see it, could feel it as Dan, but they hadn’t talked about it verbally and part of Vlad was glad for that space, was thankful that Daniel gave him room to approach his feelings on his own terms, but part of him knew they’d have to discuss it at some point and that scared him.

They all returned to the waiting room in the maternity ward where Clemont entertained himself with a bead maze, sitting down in front of a large wooden table to move the colored beads through the woven metal shapes. Daniel pushed a few through himself, albeit with his powers, something Clemont delighted in. For what it was worth the soda didn’t seem to be riling him up too much, but he still wandered around the play area fiddling with toys and talking animatedly for a while before he crawled up into Tucker’s lap and fell asleep.

Daniel came to sit beside him on an uncomfortable hospital chair, leaning across the mental and plastic arm rests to place his head on Vlad’s shoulder. He tangled their fingers together, “It’s nice to see you,” he murmured, voice heavy with emotions he hadn’t worn while playing with Clemont.

“It’s nice to see you too, love,” Vlad answered, fiddling with Daniel’s ring absentmindedly.

Daniel squeezed his hand and Vlad knew what he wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come so all he could offer Vlad was a quiet, “I love you.”

They’d been avoiding this, but Vlad knew it was coming to a head. They should have talked about it sooner and he thought they would have when Samantha and Tucker had adopted Clemont, but they hadn’t and the window had closed. Now with Jasmine in a nearby room giving birth that window was opening again and it hurt just as much as ever.

“Have you spoken with Danielle?” He asked instead of saying what he perhaps should have, but he didn’t want to have this conversation in front of their friends. He loved Samantha and Tucker, but some things were simply too private.

“Yeah, her and Reese are still about an hour out,” Daniel answered and Vlad’s leg started tapping the floor.

Was it bad that he didn’t want to see Danielle today? What did that say about him? What did it say about all the feelings he’d been burying inside of him for years now?

Everyone had come a long way. Six and some odd years were nothing to scoff at and Vlad had turned around a long time ago, but the rift he’d formed between him and Danielle had never fully healed. Yes, she cared about him, loved him, but he wasn’t her father. Vlad had accepted this truth, this state of being, before Daniel had even returned from the past and yet… it never got easier to swallow.

They were close friends. Vlad had her back whenever she needed him and she did the same for him, but she didn’t see him as a paternal figure and that was her right. Vlad understood that and he didn’t seek to force their relationship to change. If after everything, after all the bad, the good, and the healing she decided that Vlad was not her father then that was her decision and it was the right one for her. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

Vlad was in no way mad at Danielle. He didn’t blame her or lash out but he’d be lying to himself if he said there weren’t parts of him that were bitter. He was angry at himself, still, after all these years, for ruining his relationship with her. He cherished what they had, but he’d wanted to be a father for a large portion of his life and he’d thrown that opportunity away.

It terrified him to think he’d never get the chance to be a dad again.

Seeing Danielle now… it felt as if it'd cut too deep.

Since her graduation Danielle had gone on to continue her studies, earning a Master’s degree and she was currently working on a Doctorate in Anthropology. She and Reese had completed their soul bond a few years prior and had decided to work together in their studies. They were scheduled to go to a dig site in Arizona in two weeks and they had worried about missing Jasmine giving birth, but it seemed everything had worked out.

It made him feel awful to admit to himself that he wished it hadn’t. Maybe that made him a bad person. Vlad didn’t know. It was all still confusing to him at times.

“I can hear you thinking, fruitloop.” Daniel murmured and Vlad wanted desperately to sink into the comfort the tease offered, but he couldn’t.

He shifted, pulling away from Daniel and giving his husband a moment to lift his head before managing, barely, to ask, “Can we be Dan… just for a bit?”

Confusion flashed in Daniel’s eyes for a split second before understanding dawned in his gaze and his expression softened infinitely. “We can.”

“Thank you,” Vlad said and he’d hardly ever meant it more.

The two of them left the waiting room to find a more private space to merge where they wouldn’t be out in the open.

Danny held Vlad’s hands tight as they pressed themselves into a small janitor’s closet, “Is this about…”

Vlad nodded and then added quickly, “I can’t talk about it right now, Daniel I—”

“It’s okay,” Danny quieted him, pressing himself close against Vlad’s chest, taking in his scent and the feeling of his suit, “You don’t have to talk about it until you’re ready.”

“We don’t have to be Dan when we meet the baby. I know you want to meet them as you and I know Jasmine wants us both there so we can split when that happens I just need…”

“Hey,” Daniel said, pressing their foreheads together and Vlad tried to focus on the sound of his voice, of the feeling of his hair brushing against his own. “It’s okay.”

Danny wanted to tell Vlad that he didn’t need to justify himself, that he understood. He’d seen this pain before and while he himself had trouble fully grasping it for his own reasons he knew children were a touchy subject for Vlad. There were things his husband felt that he didn’t want to talk about, even with him, and it wasn’t that he didn’t trust Danny, it was that speaking about them caused pain. He didn’t want to force Vlad into hurting himself in that way, he didn’t feel as if Vlad owed him any verbal explanations. Their understanding came through quieter means and for them that was okay. That was enough.

“We’ll be Dan before we’re invited back into the room and then we’ll split and if you still want to be Dan after that, we will be. _Promise_.”

If Vlad wanted to spend a long while as Dan then Danny was willing to grant that, wanting little more than to soothe his husband’s feelings and express his own.

“I love you, Vladimir, so much,” he said as Vlad¡s face buried in his neck, their cores reaching out and tangling within one another until they fell away and Dan was left standing in the dark of the closet.

Vlad’s pain burned across his mind like a strike heavy and sharp to the expanse of his back, bowing his shoulders. He ran his hand across his chest. Despite not wanting to force Vlad into speaking about his struggles with fatherhood Danny could feel that Vlad knew they should talk and wanted too, but didn’t know how to start. They had figured out over the years that being Dan could communicate a lot of things, but having in depth conversations with one another separately went a long way as well and at times was healthier.

Later, Dan decided, they’d talk later, not now, not today when it still hurt like a burn wound.

He rejoined Sam and Tucker a moment later. They didn’t say anything, but he could see the questions in their eyes so he said, “Just some nerves, that’s all,” and although the explanation clearly didn’t satisfy them Jack and Maddie arrived to save him from saying anything else.

Jack was, as he tended to be, loud. He woke Clemont up as he came excitedly into the room, scooping everyone he could into a hug, Dan included. Maddie gave Sam and Tucker an apologetic look as Clemont tried again to fall asleep once Jack had settled down as much as Jack ever could.

Dan tried not to look at the wrinkles that had formed around his eyes as Maddie went off to check on Jasmine and Valerie. She returned a while later and updated them.

“The doctor says everything is looking good, but the baby isn’t quite ready yet. Jazzy’s been doing some walking to help, but it looks like we’re in for a long wait.”

Everyone nodded and although they were all happy that Jazz and the baby were doing fine they were also very tired.

Dan leaned his head against the eggshell colored wall and tried to rest his eyes, arms crossed over his chest.

A little under an hour later Danielle rushed into the waiting room, “Are we too late?” She asked hurriedly and Tucker groaned as her voice stirred Clemont who gave a rather angry whine at having been woken up again.

“No, you’re fine,” Sam reassured as Clemont squirmed, flustered and intent on moving, shuffling out of Tucker’s lap to tug tiredly at his shirt, not knowing what to do next.

Reese came in a moment later, carrying with them an arrangement of flowers and an oversized balloon, “Hey guys.”

“Hey.” answered everyone in a tired, monotone unison.

Reese laughed softly, setting the presents on a nearby table that was littered with magazines and already filled in crossword puzzles, “Coffee anyone? We saw a cafe about a block away on our way in.”

“God yes,” Sam said, glancing up at a nearby clock. It was nearing 2:00 am and they still weren’t sure when the baby would arrive. It was probably best to throw in the towel and embrace not getting any rest.

Reese took everyone’s order, also asking if Sam and Tucker wanted anything for Clemont. Most cafe’s sold little juice packs and the like and they asked Reese if they could get some water and apple slices, or at least some sort of fruit. Reese nodded and turned to Dan, “Do you want two orders or just one?” They said, and Dan was glad that Danielle had been right when she’d said Reese could take all the ghost stuff.

“Just one.” He said and Reese took his order before heading out.

Danielle stayed behind and Dan couldn’t quite look at her. Thankfully he had an excuse not to when Clemont came up to him, tugging at his leg in the same manner he’d done to Vlad a little while ago.

“Dan,” he whined, tired and fussy and Dan smiled, picking him up gently and setting him in his lap.

It was always a bit odd to interact with Clemont as Dan. He knew the action took a lot of trust from Sam and Tucker. They themselves could be comfortable around him and they had reached that point, but being comfortable with Dan around their child was a whole other level of trust that Dan never wanted to break. He loved Clemont very much.

He found it fascinating how Clemont simply ran with things and he supposed that was part of being a child. Sam and Tucker had adopted him while he was barely four and had immediately introduced him to the more supernatural parts of their lives. He would grow up around it, would see ghosts as normal and Dan wondered what that was like. On one hand he knew what it was like, Danny had grown up around Jack and Maddie, but growing up with ghost hunting parents and being around ghosts and halfas every day was different.

Three of Clemont’s aunts and uncles were part ghost, two of his uncles could merge and become a different person, several of his family members had close ghost friends. They even had Cujo.

Jasmine’s baby would be no different. Her and Valerie had long decided that their children would grow up fully exposed to their life as complex and as dangerous as it could sometimes be.

“Hey, little one,” Dan said and Clemont stood on his lap, bouncing as Dan held his hands to keep him steady, letting Clemont get out his annoyed energy. Dan could understand having so many feelings bundled up in one body. Being a kid was confusing and the hospital smelled weird and foreign and the fluorescent lights were bright and buzzed above them, “It’s okay.”

“Loud, Dan.”

“Yeah, I know it’s loud here.” He agreed and Clemont let go of one of his hands to tug his ear.

The burn wound of feelings flared up but he managed to smile for Clemont sake, gently lowering his hand from his ear. Tugging on it wouldn’t serve to quiet the room and Dan didn’t want him to accidentally pull too hard. “Want to walk around?”

“No.” Clemont said, before seeming to think on it for a moment as he looked over to where Jack had picked up another excited conversation with Danielle. Dan found it infinitely funny that Celmont didn’t seem to like Jack all too much, although this could be attributed to the man’s boisterous nature that was often at odds with some of Clemont’s more quiet tendencies. The Vlad parts of him sympathized greatly with the look he shot Jack now. “Yeah.”

“Yeah?” Dan confirmed, looking over to Sam who gave him a nod as he lowered Clemont off his lap. He stood, leaning over in an awkward way to let Clemont keep hold of his hand.

“Try not to lose him,” Tucker hummed and it was both a tease and a warning as they walked out of the room.

Danielle sent Dan an odd look he didn’t miss, but wished he had.

Clemont tugged at his hand as they walked and the bent over posture he’d assumed to keep hold of his hand was uncomfortable, but he didn’t change it. He wasn’t sure where they were going and Clemont wasn’t either, but Dan let the boy lead him around and stop to look at the colorful murals that lined the walls.

He stopped in front of a particularly nice one, the wall awash in blues and greens. He reached up and slapped the image of a bright orange goldfish, proudly proclaiming, “Fisher!”

Fisher was the name of the goldfish that Clemont had gotten from Valerie for his fifth birthday.

“Yeah that looks just like Fisher, huh?” Dan said, kneeling down as Clemont continued to tap the mural. “Do you like fish?”

“Yeah…” Clemont said, a smidge distracted and Dan wondered what he was thinking.

“You know your uncle Danny likes to catch fish.”

“How?”

“Well he gets a fishing rod and some worms and the rod has a hook to hold the worm. He puts the worm on it and the fish eats it, swallowing the hook and uncle Danny can reel it in and grab the fish.”

“I like… mm, I like worms.” Clemont said with a very decisive nod, “Does Uncle Danny like worms?”

“He likes them a little, yes.”

“What about uncle Vlad?”

“Uncle Vlad does not like worms.”

Clemont’s face scrunched up dramatically in what Dan realized with a start was an impression of Vlad, “Ewww worms, worms on my… on my clothes ah! In my hair!”

Parts of him, Vlad, huffed in a quick, albeit warm-hearted indignation as the more Danny side of him laughed. Vlad was getting roasted by a five year old and it was an on point jab. Vlad would in fact hate worms on his clothes and in his hair.

Clemont laughed along with him, continuing the impression of Vlad’s pompous voice as he pretended to fuss that worms had magically fallen on him and the pair ended spending a while joking around before Dan said softly, “I love you, Clemont, you know that?”

“Yeah.” Clemont answered, not looking at him but instead pressing his hand to the painted water and pretending it was a boat, voice distracted and oh so tired.

Dan smiled and the ache of Vlad’s feelings were back in full force and he wished… well, he wished a lot of things, but he let the feelings rest inside him for now. Loving Celmont and Jazz’s child would have to be enough.

Clemont wandered away from the mural and Dan followed, no longer holding him but shadowing close behind. Their footsteps felt all at once too loud and too quiet in the hospital hallway and although Vlad held a distinct disdain for medical spaces, Dan couldn’t quite hate them in Clemont’s presence. The child seemed to press such worries back into the further parts of him, urging that he focus instead on making sure he didn’t get lost as he had when Danny himself had been in charge of watching him.

Before long Clemont was swaying a bit on his feet, sleep catching up with him now that he was away from the noise of the waiting room. Dan scooped him up, holding him close to his chest and Clemont’s hands fisted, exhausted, in his shirt.

Dan walked around for a while, letting Clemont rest and he knew there would be drool on his shirt, but it hardly mattered. He milled about aimlessly until he came to a sky bridge, an enclosed, mostly glass walkway that connected one side of the hospital to the other. He stood, quiet, looking out to the parking lot below. It was dark, rain pouring from the sky to smear the world in the colors of the streetlights and cars.

Vlad liked watching the rain. Dan took silent comfort in it now.

* * *

They welcomed the newest member of their family at 4:47 am and soon after we’re allowed to shove themselves into Jazz’s room.

Dan had eventually returned with Clemont and as they’d gotten the news that they could come see Jazz, Valerie, and their child he’d pulled apart, shifting back to Danny and Vlad. Although Danny still kept a tight grip on Vlad’s hand.

The room was packed, Valerie’s father had showed up while they were waiting, Danielle and Reese were squeezed in, Jack took up a fair portion of the room and looked far too tall next to bed, Maddie was holding Jazz’s hand, and Sam and Tucker were sitting on the two provided chairs with Clemont dead to the world in their arms.

Vlad and Daniel shifted close to the bed where Jasmine sat, exhausted, but happy as Valerie ran her fingers through her auburn hair. “Hey.” She said and Vlad hoped she’d let herself sleep soon, the dark circles from the stress, pain, and sheer physical demand of birth pronounced against her skin.

“How was it?” Danny asked, looking like he wanted to reach out, but unsure if he should.

Jasmine laughed, reaching one of her hands out to hold his, “Awful, horrendous, I wouldn’t recommend it. They had to stab me six times for the epidural.”

Daniel winced, but smiled, looking down at the bundle in her arms, “Can I see them?”

Jazz shifted so the baby's face was visible and Vlad watched as Daniel's expression melted into one of awe and affection. “Meet your nephew.” She said, pulling her hand from Daniel’s own to lift her son and hand him gently to Daniel who took him with the clumsy care of someone unaccustomed to holding infants.

Jasmine and Valerie had elected not to know the gender and now everyone leaned in, curious.

“He’s heavy,” Daniel mumbled and Vlad almost smiled at the fear in Daniel’s eyes, the worry that he would drop the newborn despite the fact that everyone in the room knew he’d never let that happen.

“Eight pounds, two ounces,” Jasmine said and Daniel gawked as if to silently ask, _‘And he was in you? You birthed him?’._

“What have you decided to name him?” Danielle asked, coming closer as Daniel leaned over to show Vlad and the baby reached out, taking one of Vlad’s fingers and squeezing it harder than the halfa could have ever imagined.

How was so much strength and warmth in such a small body? It didn’t make sense.

“We’re naming him Damon, after Valerie’s dad,” Jasmine said, prompting Valerie’s father to begin crying in a kind of theatrics that Vlad didn’t understand, or at least… wouldn’t for another few seconds because just as the room quieted a touch from Jasmine’s announcement of her son’s first name she continued.

“He’s Damon Vladimir Fenton Gray.”

Vlad froze, eyes snapping from the child in Daniel’s arms down to Jasmine, “M-Me?”

Jasmine and Valerie both nodded and Jasmine moved to touch Vlad’s hand lightly and it burned, it seared straight through his flesh and right down to the knuckles he hadn’t known he was clenching against the hospital bed frame, “I know y—”

And Vlad was gone.

Just like that and it was reckless because what if there were cameras around? He hadn’t checked. But he hadn’t been able to stop himself because of course… of course Jasmine _knew_.

Ever since Vlad had asked her to help him propose to Daniel they’d been good friends and that relationship had only grown stronger across the better part of a decade. While she’d shared her own struggles with getting pregnant through medical means and her frustrations Vlad had slowly begun to reveal his own fears and shortcomings, his desires to be a father weighted down by the crushing knowledge that he technically _was_ and had failed.

He’d admitted to her that he, Jack, and Maddie had even intended on having children together once and that he still missed those thoughts sometimes. He’d admitted that he hated that he couldn’t give Daniel the experience of fatherhood, that even though he could make another clone the ethics of it was a line he couldn’t cross anymore. He didn’t think of Danielle as a mistake, but the methods he’d used to make her were. Vlad had even confessed that although adoption was an option the thought of watching his child age and die was too painful to bear and he couldn’t imagine making his child a halfa on purpose. Forever was too long, it simply wasn’t meant for humans, and those fears further prevented him from having what he wanted.

Vlad had trusted her with that information, trusted that it was private and yet she’d almost said it in front of his whole family and she had likely already told Valerie.

So he panicked.

He stiffened and in an instant vanished into thin air.

Vlad tried hard not to picture the room he’d left behind as he appeared on top of the hospital, the gravel on the roof crunching under his feet as he picked up a tight pacing pattern. His hands found his hair, squeezing in the strands, hard enough to hurt. The burn was back in full force, the pain he’d buried further than most and he wanted to swallow it down, let the searing iron ball of it fall to the center of him where it would hollow him out but at least it would remain hidden.

Daniel was on top of him in an instant and he didn’t need that right now.

He appeared behind Vlad, arms lifting a touch to silently convey that Vlad could fall into them, but Vlad couldn’t imagine being so contained when all of his emotions felt as if they were bleeding from him.

“Not now, Daniel.” He snapped and regretted it, but didn’t take it back.

Danny didn’t wince at the bite in his husband’s voice. He knew Vlad hadn’t meant it to hurt him. He let his arms fall slowly and walked to the edge on the roof, sitting down and letting Vlad drag in deep breaths of air as he paced. If he approached Vlad now it would only serve to make him feel caged, but he wasn’t about to leave him completely alone with his thoughts.

It was damp out, the rain from earlier in the night had slacked off, but the roof was still soaking and Danny felt the water seep through his clothes as he sat. Oh well, there were worse things than a wet pair of pants even if it would look silly when they went back inside.

Danny never liked watching Vlad pace like this, never liked his stuttered breathing or the tears in his eyes and he certainly didn’t like having to give him space. It was his instinct to scoop Vlad up, hold him tight, kiss the tears from his cheeks, but Vlad couldn’t be comforted that way, not at first. Vlad needed room, space to process and wave his arms around, to rant and rave and tire himself out. So despite aching to hug Vlad Danny waited as Vlad sputtered through not words and half sentences until finally, after several long minutes during which the sky began to lighten with the first suggestions of morning, Vlad spoke.

“ _Why_ did she do that?” Vlad couldn’t understand, didn’t Jasmine know it would hurt him?

“She’s your friend,” Daniel answered and it only served to annoy Vlad more. Was this a normal thing friends did? Name their kids after each other? “She knows… Vlad, she knows you want to be a dad, she’s trying to say that she wants you to be a father figure to Damon.”

Vlad shook his head quickly, he didn’t like when Daniel said that truth out loud that’s why they hadn’t talked about it and on top of that, “Now everyone knows!”

Danny’s gaze softened and he let out a slow, loving sigh, “Vlad, love, everyone already kn-”

“They _didn’t_!” Vald’s hands balled into fists at his side, he didn’t want people to know not when… not when he’d already messed everything up with Danielle. How could he justify wanting to be a dad when he’d already thrown it away and his own daughter didn’t look at him like that? How could Jasmine want him to act as a father figure when he had already proven to his friends and family that he was anything but.

“Vladimir… they do,” Danny said but Vlad rejected the sentiment, falling back into a quick pace, rounding the roof a few more times before Danny reached a conclusion that he knew he should have come to sooner, “We need to talk about it, actually talk about it, not as Dan, as us.”

The sound that left Vlad’s throat could only be described as a broken, distressed whine, but he’d never admit to that. “Later, not now, you said we didn’t have to until I was ready. I’m not ready.”

Danny stood, stepping close to Vlad but not holding him, not yet, giving him the option to run. “You’ve been getting more and more wound up about this since Sam and Tuck adopted Clemont and since then we’ve let so many windows to talk about it close… Vlad I’m worried about this window closing. I know I said we didn’t have to talk about it in the janitor’s closet and if you really don’t want to we can put it off with the promise of talking about it soon, but I really think we should now.”

Sometimes Vlad hated how caring Daniel was with him. He loved it, most of the time he adored it, but at times like this it made him feel over exposed. He hated that Daniel was right, he hated that he could see that and yet still wanted to fight back.

“I…” he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. He wanted to say that now wasn’t the time, but he knew that wasn’t the truth and he also knew that part of him did want to talk about it. “Why does she want me there for Damon when she knows I failed Danielle..?”

“Have you failed Clemont?”

Vlad paused in his pacing, looking at Daniel confused, “I— no, I don’t, I don’t think, but Daniel that’s different.”

“Why is it different?”

Vlad huffed, expression shifting to one of anger, he didn’t want Daniel to lead him by the nose like some wayward calf to a conclusion, he wanted his husband to just say his piece and then leave him for a while to pace about, “Daniel could you just say what you’re going to say, I’m not in the mood for games.”

“Clemont is different because you’re a different person now, you’ve changed since what happened between you and Danielle. Jasmine sees that, everyone sees—”

“Danielle doesn't!” And there was the crux of it and Vlad wanted to snatch it back, wanted to pluck the words from the air and swallow them down but the dam was open and it hurt, “If I was really so different don’t you _think_ —! Daniel don’t you think she would see me as her father by now‽”

Vlad acted like he was okay with it, acted like he could understand Danielle’s decision, but he didn’t. He had done everything within his power to try and express to her that he had changed, that he had grown, that he had learned his lessons and she just threw it all back in his face! It hurt! It hurt and sometimes Vlad couldn’t stand it! He repeated to himself over and over that her decisions were her own, that he wasn’t mad or wounded or any of it, but those were lies and Daniel knew that!

“Vladimir…” Danny said and Vlad looked at him with a gaze that spoke of far more exhaustion that a late night could provide. He reached out to take his husband's hands and Vlad moved to pull them away, but paused and stayed still letting Danny hold him and that action alone resonated loudly throughout him. He knew Vlad wanted to run, knew that was always his first instinct and that he never wanted to feel caged so to let himself be held even while he was still hurting warmed Danny just as much as any _‘I love you’_.

“I’m going to mess up again.” Vlad murmured, too quiet and small for him, “Danielle knows that… that’s why she doesn’t…”

“What Danielle feels towards you does not invalidate your growth,” Danny said and he’d thought it many times, had tried to communicate as such to Vlad when they were Dan, but he’d never said it outloud to Vlad and he should have. “She’s your friend and I know you want more… but life sometimes doesn’t work out the way you want, that doesn’t mean you’re a failure.”

Vlad shook his head slowly, “I hate feeling like this,” he confessed, “I hate that I love her and understand her decisions but it still hurts. I hate how much I still regret it and I… I hate that she sees me interacting with Clemont and probably wishes I’d have treated her that way.”

Jealousy was a painful thing, he knew it first hand and he worried all the time that Danielle would grow spiteful of how he treated Clemont with such care, how he would inevitably treat Damon and any other children their family had over the infinite years of their lives.

He hated being something he should have been for her.

He hated that growth was painful.

Above all else he hated that this problem, this pain, was the culmination of years of loss and shortcomings, that this issue was in actuality several that had wrapped up inside one another, feeding off each other in a vicious cycle.

So he talked. He pressed close to Daniel, let himself be taken into his arms as if he were some precious, holy thing despite how parts of him still wanted to run and he spoke, letting everything spill to the ground like the rain that had come in the night.

He let himself feel because that’s what they were, still after all these years, learning to do.

“I wanted children. Jack and Maddie and I, we were going to bond and have a family and I lost that and I’m glad I found you, glad we’re together, but sometimes I still wish we were a trio and that makes me feel like a bad soulmate.”

“You are not a bad soulmate, fruitloop,” Danny reassured, hand lifting to rub Vlad’s back. “You’re just human… despite the fact that well, you aren’t really and you turn into a vampire.”

“Not a vampire,” Vlad grumbled and Danny smiled because he knew that if his husband was responding to his teasing then that meant he was calming down.

“Oh I’m sorry, I meant a very sexy, handsome vampire.”

Vlad huffed, burying his face further into Daniel’s chest which was broad and warm and smelled like him and the rain.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry that I can’t really have kids.” He said after a few more minutes where he’d focused on Daniel’s hands on his back. “I want them but we’re dead so we’re generic dead ends even if we did get a surrogate and I… I don’t want to adopt. I don’t think I could take watching our child die and I know how stressed you still are about the family we do have dying and I, I don’t think I could make another halfa…. it was…”

“Not ethically sound? Fruitloopy? Completely batshit wild? Yeah.”

Vlad pulled back and sent Daniel the most withering glare he could manage and judging from how his husband laughed it hadn’t worked.

Danny smiled down at Vlad, thumb running over the back of Vlad’s hand in a slow circle, “I died when I was fourteen… I never really got the chance to think about kids. Beyond a project in high school my thoughts were focused on fighting ghosts and faking my own death.”

He hadn’t led a normal life where he could grow up with his friends and seriously consider children. He’d been pipelined into the life of a hero, consumed by the fear of Dan and of his family and friends dying. Why think about growing up, about getting married or having children when he was saving the world and dealing with his own issues of depression and suicidal ideation?

He hadn’t had room for it and since then he’d focused more on bonding with Vlad, of their lives together, and repairing his connections to others.

“I know you want children, but I need you to know that I don’t feel any great loss by not having them.” And that was the truth, he knew it was important to Vlad, but he simply couldn’t see himself in that light. As Vlad had said, he was worried enough about watching his parents, his sister, and his friends die. He didn’t want to add anything else to that and despite how he loved Clemont and now Damon he was frightened that his family growing would only add more pain to the hurt he knew was coming in the future.

These were thoughts he tried to let move through him, washing in and out of consciousness. He didn’t want to suppress them, he knew that wasn’t healthy, but he also didn’t want to hold onto them for too long because if he did Danny knew he’d grow bitter at his family for making more people for him to lose. Such thoughts of loss had in the past urged him to run and he didn’t want to return to that version of himself. He wanted to stay with his family, painful as he knew it would be in the long run.

“You know how when we’re Dan loving Clemont, loving the people we do have, feels like enough?” Danny asked when Vlad didn’t respond for a few minutes and his husband nodded, “I think that can be enough when we’re just Danny and Vlad too. And I’m not saying it always has to be enough, we’re going to live forever so who knows maybe one day we will feel okay with losing a mortal child or some other poor fourteen year old will half die and we’ll adopt them or something… but for now I think what we have is good.”

Vlad was silent for a while, soaking in Daniel’s words. He’d known of course that Daniel wasn’t keen on having children, nor had he ever had the space to think over such a decision… but he also knew that knowledge alone didn’t wash away his own feelings of insecurity. That would be something they’d have to work on together and this was a start, “Sorry I teleported away.”

Danny smiled and nuzzles his face against Vlad’s to smother him in a flurry of quick kisses, something that always made Vlad squirm in a way he loved watching, “You better be, I teleported to follow you and almost brought the baby with me. Jazz would have been so pissed and Valerie would have hunted us both down.”

“He’s going to have an interesting life with us as his uncles.” Vlad hummed, slowly the burn was fading, the pain receding for now to let him breath. He knew it would come back, this was far from a one and done conversation, but for now he had some space within his own mind.

“All their kids are, but hey, no matter what happens they’ll always love us on Christmas. We give good gifts.”

“You mean I give good gifts, Daniel, I’m the one that has money.”

“Ah, ah, ah, legally since Dimitri is married to you he has half your money, so they’re our good gifts.”

Vlad laughed and it was nice too after all the stress, “Fine, they are our gifts.”

With that the pair of them went back into the hospital, rejoining everyone in Jasmine’s room and to Vlad’s surprise he didn’t feel like he needed to be Dan. Being himself could be enough for now.

* * *

Year ten.

* * *

“I don’t think it would hurt, but we’d certainly have to be careful about it.” Vlad said, leaning over one of the long dining tables in he and Daniel’s house.

They had all gathered for a weekend get together, finding time off from their various jobs to meet and catch up. The past few years had seen a few changes and meeting regularly was becoming steadily more difficult.

Danielle had finished her Doctorate in anthropology and spent most of her time traveling the world as she’d long wanted to when she was younger. She and Reese came and went as her schedule dictated and although the pair lived a nomadic lifestyle they knew they would always have a home base in Amity.

Jasmine and Valerie had moved to Toronto where Jasmine had opened her own therapy clinic and Valerie worked testing new technology at Vladco’s Canadian branches. They were here now with three and half year old Damon and the newest member of their family, one year old Isabell who fussed about in the high chair sat next to the table.

Samantha and Tucker had moved to Madison Wisconsin permanently and Tucker worked closely with Vlad and several of his corporations designing software and engineering. Samantha herself ran a few notable feminist and environmental agencies that focused on direct ground roots activism and fundraising. Around the two of them ten year old Clemont played with his sister Ester who they had adopted as well two years prior and Vlad suspected they were thinking of adopting another child soon, but it hadn’t been brought up in conversation yet.

Vlad and Daniel had settled down in the Amity house and Jack and Maddie came over regularly, as they had today, but having everyone together was a special treat.

They were discussing paranormal sciences, particularly what would happen to the extremely narrow field once two of the top experts, Jack and Maddie, could no longer pursue the science. Age was beginning to catch up with them and although they could still research, ghost hunting was starting to take its toll. Over the years they had curbed their more violent hunting tendencies, dissection included, but many ghosts were still vengeful and involved hard work to capture and release back into the GZ.

Valerie had offered to pick hunting back up, although only near her home in Toronto. Doing otherwise would pull her away from her two young children and place stress on Jasmine’s medical practice, something both she and her wife wanted to avoid. They had worked hard on their lives and everyone understood that.

Likewise Samantha and Tucker were engrossed in their own work, although Tucker did still regularly help him out in the lab and was a professional paranormal scientist in his own right.

Facts were there weren’t many people interested in the field even with ghosts being a bit more prominent than they had been in the decades before and with Jack and Maddie aging the science was on the precipice of losing knowledge and slowing in progress, something that both Vlad and Daniel didn’t want.

There was so much to explore about the Ghost Zone and it deserved to be researched and understood. It was an entire realm of existence for god's sake, knowledge from it could potentially revolutionize and redefine science in the mortal realm.

The idea of a school had come up over lunch, an institution focused on the paranormal at all levels and while Vlad liked the idea, as he’d said, they’d have to be careful. Agencies like the G.I.W still existed. Passing on their knowledge and skills would have to be a selective process.

“So we start small,” Jack said, “Teach the kids, like we did and branch out from there. We taught Jazz and Danny and hey, we got one ghost hunter out of it.”

“I kind of had to,” Danny laughed, high school felt so long ago now and while he did still fight the occasional ghost he had turned more towards research, particularly studying ghost behaviors, history, and social structures. They had once been people after all and while the Ghost Zone was an odd space it was a society that came with its own set of rules and expectations. On top of that he far preferred being personable to other ghosts than chasing them off anymore.

Vlad hummed lightly, leaning over his hands, “We could certainly try, but at some point it would be nice to have the science viewed in a more official light and when that happens we’ll have to keep agencies like the G.I.W from overrunning things.”

“Well,” Maddie started, catching everyone’s attention, “At UW-Madison someone had to give us the space for our lab and our grant money. We were allowed to operate with great freedom and little interference from outside sources. If we want to get serious with pushing this science forward I think we should start there.”

* * *

Year twenty.

* * *

And so they had.

It had taken a lot of effort but they had managed to track down the people responsible for giving them their first grants. From there they’d contacted paranormal investigators all over the world, working out who was and who wasn’t legitimate. In the end their network was still fairly small, there were only a few true ghost hunters in the world, but they’d managed to pull them together and now Vlad’s mansion in Wisconsin had been converted into a space dedicated to learning as much about the Zone as possible.

The castle operated as both a school and a research center and although they didn’t have many students, the student body consisting of a few members of their family along with a few members of the other scientist’s families, Vlad and Danny could see that the science held a promising future.

They hadn’t gone public, not yet, but they were starting to think it could be a possibility as they trained the next generation of paranormal scientists.

Sam and Tucker had ended up adopting three more kids, something Danny couldn’t fathom because five children sounded like such a handful, but his friends found a lot of fulfillment in it.

Clemont was the only one of their kids old enough to learn from them as everyone had insisted he finish high school first, much to his aggravation. Vlad had been right all those years ago when he’d said a Clemont was like Daniel. He was strong willed, stubborn, and prone to stumbling head long into trouble. He made for a good student, although at times he was a bit overzealous.

His sister Clara, their middle child after Ester, was still in high school but had expressed a desire to learn as soon as she could and both halfa’s looked forward to it.

Ester wasn’t particularly interested. She took very closely after Sam and intended to pursue a law career.

Sam and Tucker’s youngest children, a set of boy girl twins, Marcus and Angela respectively, were still a smidge too young to be making those sorts of decisions being only eight years old.

Both Vlad and Danny couldn’t understand how they had the energy to look after eight year olds given that Sam and Tucker were now well into their forties.

Jazz and Valerie’s kids, Damon and Isabell also fell under the banner of still too young to decide, although they both seemed to be leaning towards it and Vlad and Danny took every opportunity to try and entice them to the field.

Overall things were going smoothly and seemed to be stabilizing for the time being. Vlad and Danny worked alongside Jack, Maddie, Tucker, and the other scientists to learn as much as they could and they took great comfort in the knowledge that while they may be immortal there was always going to be something new to investigate.

One thing that had served to shock all of them however, was Danielle and Reese’s decision to become parents. Like Samantha and Tucker they had chosen to adopt and for a time that had been confusing to Vlad. He’d spent so long scared of losing a mortal child and Danielle had simply embraced it. He had come to understand that Danielle, having chosen to bind herself to a mortal soulmate, had developed a different outlook on death than he or Daniel had.

She understood death as a necessary process, a state of being that merely occurred. It wasn’t something to be fought against and it wasn’t scary. It wasn’t good or evil. Death just was and beyond the three of them, the halfas who had cheated it, everyone partook in dying. For her what made something worthwhile and beautiful was that it ended, not how she could seek to prolong it.

That viewpoint, that strength, was something Vlad and Danny both silently envied, especially as it became apparent that they were growing steadily closer to losing Jack and Maddie, something they’d long feared.

* * *

Years thirty-four to seventy three.

* * *

  
Jack was the first to go and in a way they weren’t particularly surprised by this. As stubborn as ever he had fallen on his way down to the Fentonworks lab. It hadn’t been a bad fall, only a handful of steps, but he was eighty-eight by now and small things become big the older one gets.

He’d broken a few bones and at first things had seemed okay. He’d gotten surgery and returned home, but everyone kind of knew what was coming and one morning he simply hadn’t woken up.

It had been a Wednesday and it had hurt.

There wasn’t a pretty window dressing for it. Jack hadn’t died heroically or even suddenly all things considered. He just had.

Daniel hadn’t taken it well, he’d never technically lost anyone. Beyond seeing his family die and then fixing it he hadn’t experienced death and Vlad could empathize. The first time always stuck out. He himself still missed his mother and always would.

They were lucky to have not experienced the loss of a loved one sooner. Their family was happy and thankfully healthy and the years had been good to them, but even good lives came with death.

They had both cried, Daniel had lost his father and Vlad had lost one of his best friends. They mourned together. At first Daniel hadn’t let them become Dan for fear that the grief would become too much, but then one evening about a week after Jack’s funeral which despite everything had manned to be a light affair more focused on remembering the man’s life than grieving over him, Daniel asked if they could be Dan.

They’d stayed that way for nearly a year.

At some points Dan wondered if it wasn’t quite healthy, but he let Danny and Vlad comfort one another on their own grounds and by the time they unmerged they were ready to truly talk about it.

Once that had happened they had visited Jack’s grave and begun the work of healing while apart, while not relying so heavily on one another. They’d been married for a while but they were just now starting to understand the importance of leaning away from the codependency being Dan could sometimes inspire. Jasmine, years of psychological practice under her belt, helped them quite a lot with that.

It was okay to be Dan. It was okay to even comfort one another through becoming him. But he wasn’t a solution to their problems.

That had been a hard pill to swallow, at first Dan had felt like the end all be all of communication and comfort, but at the end of the day he was still just a person and their issues were his own. He wasn’t perfect and although he was an expression of their love he wasn’t always the best way to go about interacting with each other.

Just as there would always be something new to learn about the world and about the Ghost Zone there was always going to be new things to learn about one another. There was always going to be ways to grow.

They practiced these truths in the years after Jack’s death and when Maddie died a few years later they took it much better.

That wasn’t to say it was easy, losing people never was, but Danny and Vlad found their peace with it slowly but surely.

During this period they came to understand Danielle’s view of death. By now she looked far younger than her soulmate. Her child, Avery, looked as if they could be her sibling. She was deeply invested in the lives of people she knew would die and now Danny and Vlad saw the commitment of that, having seen their loved ones age and pass.

They’d had another long discussion about children and had come to the conclusion that they still didn’t feel comfortable with the idea.

Six months after Maddie had passed, while they were both still deep in the grieving process, several of their machines monitoring the Ghost Zone had gone down. By now the devices, built to track the occurrences of anomalies within the Zone, had been up and running for decades. Danny still winced when he remembered the day Tucker and Vlad had shown them to him for the first time. He had loudly proclaimed that he would never be with Vlad and had proceeded to run away and get vivisected.

Many of the ghosts who they were friends with had grown accustomed to these devices so their disappearance stuck out quickly. What surprised them even more was that they hadn’t been destroyed. If there was a new ghost in their typical section of the Zone it was likely that their first instincts would have been to break them. However, they had merely been moved and stopped providing much feedback other than the occasional ping when they checked to see if they were operating.

Now, standing at the edge of their portal Vlad and Danny prepared to search for the devices. Tucker had been able to locate them due to their response pings, but they all knew that the Zone was a fickle thing and liked to shift about like water spilled over a table so the locations were only rough estimations. He and Clemont, now a full fledged adult and paranormal scientist, stood by the lab's monitoring system running one last check on their tracking gear and communication systems before giving Vlad and Danny the thumbs up to dive in.

The pair did so, transforming and launching themselves out into the GZ. Danny took a short moment to appreciate the glow of his green ectoplasm around Vlad’s throat. He never could get over how nice it looked on him, how it made him feel a deep sense of possessiveness and pride. He floated over to his husband and brushed across their bond line with his fingers, “It always looks so good on you.” He said in a way that made Vlad shiver because he knew his soulmate was calling him his and that’s just what he wanted to be.

Vlad leaned in, kissing him slowly, lifting his fingers to run them through Daniel’s hair which he’d grown out a good way, the curling strands of it floating through the space like the coldest of fires.

They both picked up a distinct cough over their receiver and separated with a laugh as Tucker came over their radios, “The two of you can literally make out whenever you want. Could you not do it while looking for my babies.”

“Your babies?” Vlad asked incredulously, “I distinctly remember us making them together.”

“I did all the leg work,” Tucker said and Danny already knew the tease that was coming, “Because I distinctly remember you getting so wrapped up in Danny because you’d finally bonded that you didn’t do any substantial work for weeks. So yes, the two of you are looking for _my_ babies”

They could hear Clemont laughing at their expense over the radio. Sam and Tucker had never been shy about telling him embarrassing stories about his two uncles who had danced stupidly around one another for years only to tumble headlong into one another.

“Clemont, when I get back I’m skinning you alive. I know where you live,” Danny grumbled as he and Vlad broke apart, starting to make their way towards where several of the devices had relayed signals.

“Like to see you try, Phantom,” Clemont hummed, smug and Danny was starting to think he’d spent too much time interacting with Vlad over the years because some of his tendencies had rubbed off on him.

As they flew Vlad’s hand found his tangling there absentmindedly as he kept his eyes on the map he’d pulled up on his wrist communicator. The devices had, over the years, enabled them to make a fairly consistent map of the Zone that could alert them to changes. However, with some of their network down it wasn’t as accurate as it should have been and Vlad made sure to stay vigilant as they strayed further out.

In the decades that had passed they had explored quite a bit, but as the minutes turned to hours they found themselves in unfamiliar territory, sinking lower and lower into the Zone’s layers. Danny pressed close to Vlad. It wasn’t that he was worried persay, he and Vlad were some of the strongest ghosts in existence not even taking into account their abilities as Dan, but the Zone had a way of making one feel watched once you got far down and he took comfort in Vlad’s presence.

“Not many ghosts hide out this deep.” Vlad mumbled distractedly in the way he always did when he was thinking really hard about a scientific theory or other inquiry.

“Do you think some ghost just threw the monitors really far down?” Danny asked, looking down as the green gave way to darkness. He didn’t see anything and that’s what worried him. The devices had a glow about them, the light from the inner workings was a distinct bright blue he had grown used to. But if they were down here then the pervasive darkness had swallowed them whole.

“If that was the case they probably would have floated back up by now…” Vlad said, tapping the screen on his wrist to make sure they hadn’t made an accidental turn in the dark, “they’re more buoyant than the ambient environment so they must have been somehow secured down here.”

“Odd thing for a ghost to do,” Danny said, trying to reach out with his senses to feel out any nearby ghosts and coming up empty handed. He wished Danielle had been able to come, she’d always been better at reading ecto-signatures from a distance, even when they were teenagers.

They went silent for a bit, sinking further into the deep dark and shivering at the feeling of being watched.

Vlad pressed closer to Daniel now, mimicking his soulmate’s earlier desire to stay close and with a look they wordlessly decided to be Dan, falling into one another and calling up through the radio, “I’m Dan now, this place gives me the hebejebes.”

“Didn’t think I’d ever hear you say that, Dan,” Tucker responded, poking fun at him and confirming that the radio was still working. “See anything yet? Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine… I haven’t seen anything, but it just, it always feels like I’m over exposed this far down. There’s a reason ghosts don’t like to linger in the deep dark.” They hadn’t quite figured out that reason beyond the space just felt _off_ , but Dan trusted the other ghosts enough to know they had their reasons and take those silent warnings into account.

“Keep in touch okay, I’d rather you not get eaten or something.”

“Copy that,” Dan said and descended further still.

Time passed, slow and all too fast. Down here the concept was as slippery as coconut oil on linoleum and it felt as if Dan could fall headlong into years if he wasn’t careful.

From a great, or perhaps seemingly great, distance a light began to glow and checking the map on his arm Dan saw the devices send off a signal. Turning to follow the light more closely the devices began to ping steadily and the lights began to separate into the machine’s distinct blue, a bright orange, and a soft teal.

“Hear the pings?” Dan asked Tucker quietly as he narrowed his eyes at the lights.

“Loud and clear. How’s things looking?”

“Weird.” Dan said, reaching out with his senses as carefully as he could to feel for ecto-signatures again and this time he didn’t come back empty handed. He felt two distinct entities and while he could tell that he had never encountered them before a sensation of familiarity coiled within him, settling into the back folds of his mind like old knowledge. “Stand by, there are two ghosts down here, it’s unclear if they are hostile.”

“Do not engage.” Tucker said in warning and Dan could hear Clemont grumble that telling him not to engage was useless and his nephew was right because even though Tucker had told him to stay away he floated closer.

There was just something so…

Dan couldn’t quite place his finger on it. The ecto-signatures were new. He’d long since memorized the presences of ghosts he associated with and these two weren’t familiar and yet, they were. He felt pulled towards the lights and that was dangerous, deeply, terrifyingly dangerous, but he couldn’t stop. Ghosts could lure one another in, he knew better, but he pressed forward anyway as the feeling of the ghosts just beyond his reach pushed a sad sort of hysteria to the back of his throat, homesickness long ignored and welling to the surface.

And there they were.

Their figures sharpened to focus in the dark and Dan said their names, accidentally announcing his presence, before he could stop himself.

“Jack? Maddie?”

And they looked back at him and for the first time what felt like forever he saw them and was immediately hit with a wave of horrible sadness.

They hadn’t moved on.

Jack’s ghost turned, Maddie following close behind a device held tight in her hands.

Dan fell apart, unwinding out and back to Danny and Vlad and neither of them knew if they should be happy because of course, of course, they wanted to see Jack and Maddie again, but not moving on was such a painful thing. The Ghost Zone was in essence a limbo space, a stretch of eternal stagnation. Why had they lingered?

“Do you know what these are?” Maddie asked after a moment where they just looked at one another and Vlad and Danny both sputtered for a second, “We keep finding them all over, they’re really interesting. Do you know what they do?”

“Don’t you… don’t you recognize us?” Danny managed as Maddie pressed a device incessantly into his hands and Jack shook his head.

“Can’t say we do.”

“But you, you know you’re dead, right?” Vlad asked, unsure of what to do, of how to treat his friends who weren’t quite his friends at the moment.

The pair of them looked at each other and then down at themselves, “Well, it hardly matters.” Maddie said with a decisive nod, “We’re more concerned about these little contraptions.”

One of the devices pinged and the sound echoed across Vlad’s wrist pad, causing Jack to reach out and snatch his hand, looking the communicator over, “Look Mads they respond to this one’s watch!”

So they knew each other… well, most ghosts knew their soulmate, the rings of their soul bonds completed in the color of their ectoplasm around their throat, that connection deeper than death. But, they didn’t seem to know much else.

What followed was hard in the most confusing of ways for both Danny and Vlad. These ghosts were Jack and Maddie, but they remembered little from life other than that they were paranormal scientists. They hadn’t experienced traumatic deaths and yet had persisted here in the Zone due to their strong desire to know more about the realm. Manifesting due to years of dedicated inquiry their obsessions were to continue learning about the GZ despite their deaths, a seemingly endless task due to the nature of the space.

They appeared younger than they had when they had died. They both seemed to be college aged, reflecting the time when their real life obsessions with ghosts had come to the forefront of their personalities and become a career path instead of a hobby. They were enthusiastic and deeply curious, benevolent if a touch excitable. They had a tendency to poke their fingers into things they shouldn’t be digging around with.

But, and perhaps most importantly, they were happy.

Jack and Maddie had formed the same obsession with learning and had found one another again and while they weren’t Danny’s parents or Vlad’s friends in the same way they had been in life they were present.

Danny and Vlad had brought them back to the lab with them, had reintroduced them to everyone and now they spent their time haunting the Wisconsin castle with the Dairy King and helping out with research.

Danny and Vlad were conflicted in many ways at first. How do you love someone yet understand that they aren’t the same person you loved before? How do you compartmentalize who some used to be and their changing self, especially when that change involved the loss of memory? We’re these versions of Jack and Maddie still them on a fundamental level or had the changes their minds had undergone caused them to become completely different people?

Did those different people own Danny and Vlad anything?

Jazz helped them sort out a few things regarding their individual and complex emotions, but it was clear that she struggled with it too. Her own parents didn’t recognize her. They liked her, were friends with her, but it was different and difference is always the most painful when it arrives on a familiar face.

Many of the questions they asked didn’t have answers.

Danny and Vlad were learning that sometimes this was simply the case. Loose ends existed and there were times when it was best to make peace with them. Not everything could be clean cut and clear and messiness often lent itself as a backdrop to the broader joys of life.

Those lessons were steadily becoming more and more important.

Jazz, Valerie, Sam, Tucker, everyone had long since begun to show their ages and Danny was slowly having to embrace the idea of saying goodbye to them.

That saying goodbye, those conversations, were paramount and Danny and Vlad were both glad that they were learning how to talk to their friends about dying because in those interactions they found that life became a little less scary.

There were grandchildren now, new faces and personalities, new hands to reach up to them and love them. The school was going well and there were talks of going fully public as halfas.

People came and went. There were weddings, births, graduations, achievements, heartbreak, happiness, and with Jazz a new death.

She was the first within Danny’s age pool to leave and despite their practice with death Danny still found it endlessly cruel that the person who had helped both he and Vlad grow so much had gone so seemingly soon.

Danny’s sister, Vlad’s best friend— gone.

She had aided them with their grief and had upon Jack and Maddie’s death become a strong, reliable matriarch in the family. For a while they didn’t know what to do without her.

And life was like that. It was the ups and downs and test after test and there they were learning to deal with their grief without her and Danny and Vlad had both known they'd have to do it on their own one day… but it felt far too early.

Still, they pressed on and as Vlad had said at their wedding every time they fell down, every time they messed up, every time they fought, every time they felt as if life were too overwhelming, they got back up. They tried again, tried together, tried more gently and more lovingly than the last time.

Vlad had been right. They fell in love with each new version of each other every day and as they evolved they formed a deep, understanding, affection for one another and all they could be.

Slowly, steadily, as sure as anything, they lost people they loved.

Danielle lost Reese and her child was aging. She went through an extremely rough period of her own despite her views on death. Although, that grief didn’t change or invalidate her understanding. She was sad, she had every right to be, but she didn’t regret bonding with a mortal and she certainly didn’t regret raising a child.

In that same vein Danny and Vlad didn’t regret knowing Jack and Maddie, or Jasmine and Valerie, or Sam and Tucker, or any of their family. They wouldn’t change things if they could and that lesson was hard won and tightly held.

Years ago Danny had faked his death to try and escape the pain of knowing people who would die. He’d run from it as best he could. Now it was as much a part of living as happiness.

Death wasn’t enjoyable, nor was it ever fully devoid of sorrow, but it wasn’t worth missing out on other people.

Happiness could be fleeting but that didn’t make it any less so and with this in mind the pair lived.

* * *

* * *

Year one hundred.

* * *

* * *

  
The sound of waves hitting the shore filtered in through the open windows, wind stirring up the light curtains that hung in the living room.

Daniel and Vlad lounged on their couch, Vlad’s arms wrapped around his husband as they flipped through an old leather bound photo album. Daniel had told him years ago that they should spend a lifetime or two living on the beach and they’d finally taken the time to do so.

It wasn’t a large house, it didn’t need to be, and the walls were lined with pictures, and the shelves were covered with trinkets.

Vlad ran his hand through Daniel’s hair, appreciating the familiar comfort of his weight against him. “Love you, little badger.” He murmured, pressing his nose to Daniel’s neck, tracing the line there gently as he had done thousands of times before. He felt content and full of belonging.

“I love you most, fruitloop.” Danny teased knowing what Vlad would say before he said it and smiling as he did.

“Definitely not.”

“That so?” Danny said, basking in the way Vlad’s arms tightened around him and he huffed a breath of annoyed, warm air against the short hairs at the base of his neck.

He was looking down at a picture of all of them, had been for some time now. It was of him and Vlad, Danielle and Reese, his parents, Jazz and Valerie, Sam and Tucker. Beyond His parents none of their ghosts had stuck around. Instead they had moved on and Danny was glad for that, for them, but he still missed them and he always would but he’d gotten to the point where remembering granted more happiness than grief.

Danielle was still around of course, although she was fiercely independent and came and went at her own discretion. Although, he glanced up to a clock on the wall, “Dani should be here soon.”

Vlad nodded, she had said she was coming an hour earlier, but they hadn’t rushed to move or make lunch. Danielle tended to come later than when she said she’d arrive.

“Think the kids’ll like chocolate chip pancakes?” Danny asked, setting the album aside on their coffee table before twisting about in Vlad’s lap to face him, laying on his chest.

“For lunch? Absolutely.” Vlad said, leaning down to kiss Daniel in a quick, but tender manner, at least, that had been the intention before Daniel shifted, pushing further into the embrace and slipping his tongue into his mouth. He tasted like the tea and grapefruit they’d had at breakfast.

“Mm, think we got a few minutes to have some fun?” Danny said as he pulled away, one of his hands pushing Vlad’s shirt up, feeling the skin and muscles along his stomach and chest.

Vlad laughed and it was an easy sound that Danny loved more than anything, “Not unless you want to scare some of the younger kids, darling.”

“Would it be bad if I said that would be their problem, not ours?”

“It would,” Vlad cupped Daniel’s cheek, a silent _‘I love you’_ passing between them. They did a lot of that these days, talked without saying anything. “It would also make their parents very unhappy.”

“But Dani would think it was funny.”

Vlad had to give Daniel that. Seeing their youngest family members scarred by embarrassment would bring Danielle a certain amount of sadistic joy.

She was coming over today with a few of her great great grandchildren. Danny and Vlad wondered when they’d stop keeping track of grand this and great that and simply refer to all their relatives as nieces and nephews. It would have to be soon. It was starting to get a bit confusing.

Vlad pulled Daniel closed, held him tighter if only for a few more moments, indulging in his touch which skirted the line between innocent and something more. They could get lost in each other later, for now a tease was enough and although Daniel grumbled when they inevitably seperated Vlad knew it was lighthearted. Although, he also didn’t doubt he would pay for it later and he trembled at the thought.

They left their couch and made their way to the kitchen where Vlad sat down at one of the tall chairs beside the island. He’d been worried about letting Daniel cook when they’d first bonded. He’d been convinced that Daniel would manage to catch his kitchen on fire, but he’d become a wonderful chef since then and Vlad took a domestic comfort in watching his husband cook.

He liked to come up behind him, press his face against his neck and distract him. He’d run his finger’s up Daniel’s sides, right where he knew the other halfa was ticklish and watch him squirm. Daniel would always complain that he was holding a knife or doing something important, but Vlad couldn’t help it. It was fun to make Daniel angry. It always had been.

Their kitchen was large, but it wasn’t cold. It wasn’t immaculate or covered in stainless steel. It was scattered with jars full of flour, sugar, and salt. Little pots filled with herbs grew near the windows and strings of garlic hung from shelves to dry. There were pictures and letters covering the fridge depicting their family and little updates about their lives. There was a pack of magnet poetry there too, arranged into sayings that varied from loving and deep to nonsensical. There was a chalkboard where their nieces and nephews would draw animals and Danny and Vlad would write one another messages about groceries. There was a coffee maker that never seemed to be empty and a long worn in wooden cutting board.

It was cozy. It was home.

“What you thinking about, fruitloop,” Danny hummed as he pulled out the ingredients necessary for the pancakes and an apron that read in bright green print, _‘Kiss the halfa!’_ which had been a novelty gift from Danielle. She and Vlad had matching ones. It was incredibly corny, but that’s why Danny liked it.

“Take a wild guess.” Vlad said, imagining Daniel in nothing but the apron as he made his way around the kitchen with a practiced ease.

“Mm, taking over the world.”

“Not quite.”

“Laughing maniacally.”

“Close, but no dice.”

“Giving a dramatic monologue.”

“Getting warmer.”

Daniel smiled at him and that look was Vlad’s world and more, “You’re thinking about telling me you love me.”

“Always, badger.”

Daniel focused on his cooking for a moment, stirring the ingredients together before stating matter of factly, “You’re also thinking about me in nothing but the apron.”

Vlad grinned as he was caught, “Perhaps.”

  
  


* * *

Danielle and her side of the family arrived a little past one and to their happy surprise they’d also brought along members from Sam and Tucker’s side and Jasmine and Valerie’s. It wasn’t everyone, not even close. Their family had gotten rather larger over the years. But, it was nice to see so many familiar faces.

Dani hugged Danny at the door and the children ran inside, scattering this way and that before converging on their uncle Vlad and tackling him to the ground where he let them dog pile onto him. He’d gotten used to it.

By now the whole house smelled of pancakes and Danny smiled as he heard the kids laughing at something Vlad was doing in the living room.

He thought to himself that moments like these were why he’d come back, why he’d stopped wishing he was completely dead and gone.

Danielle leaned over the kitchen island with a smile, reaching out to grab a stack of paper they had there, “Hundredth anniversary family reunion party, huh?” She said as she flipped through the plans.

“Yep, Vlad wants to go all out.”

“Doesn’t he go all out for Christmas every year, which is when this party would be since that’s when you got married, which is also when the whole family gets together anyway?”

Danny laughed and placed a few pancakes onto a plate, making sure to add blueberry syrup to each separate layer, just like Danielle liked it, “Yes, but it’s important we let him have his fun.”

“What about you, are you having fun?” She asked, taking the plate of pancakes from him and digging in.

Danny leaned against the kitchen counter and glanced over to a calendar they had hanging on the wall, looking at all the scribbles written across it, all the things they had to do. Oddly enough being immortal didn’t make the years pass by any slower. “I am, although I’m going to miss Vlad when I leave next week.

“Gonna try and catch the next shuttle to Mars?”

“Absolutely. Some of the weather patterns out there are incredible, you should come along sometime.” Danny said, looking forward to being out there in space again. He loved it.

Vlad had kept his promise and helped him become an astronaut. He’d been to space several times now, but he always missed his husband when he didn’t come along. It wasn’t a long trip, not really anyways, only a few months now that they’d figured out the technology to make the trip far shorter. Still Danny couldn’t help but feel homesick.

“As a ghost or as an astronaut?” Danielle asked and Danny grinned.

“You should learn the science, it only takes a decade, give or take a few years, I’m sure you could do it.”

“And go back to school, no thank you. I’m taking a break.”

Danny started to plate everyone else’s pancakes, cutting up some fruit to go along with them, “Aw come on you love school, you’ve got what, three doctorates now?”

“Four.”

“Ancients, what’s this last one for?” He still hadn’t read all her books from her last field of research. Their library was filled with her writing and a fair amount from Jazz and Sam who had both gone on to produce several works during their careers. Although Danny was partial to Valerie and Tucker’s collaborative sci-fi novels.

“Linguistics.”

A loud chorus of screams erupted from the living room, pulling them away from their light, easy conversation as several children ran into the kitchen, followed close behind by Cujo. One of them, Gwendolyn, clutched Maddie the cat, now long a ghost, to her chest. She looked aggravated, but she made no move to phase out of Gwen’s tight grasp.

She crashed into Danny, smooshing Maddie between them and Danny chuckled at how she meowed as if to say, _‘Are you seeing this, it’s ridiculous’_. He leaned over and picked the both of them up as the others huddled around him, “Now, now what’s all this about?”

“Uncle Vlad is being mean!” She declared and Danny didn’t doubt it.

“That so? What is he doing?” He asked, voice deathly serious as the other children around him tossed in their two cents about how incredibly cruel Vlad was being.

“Scary eyes!” She yelled and Danny winced at how close she’d screamed to his ear, but he didn’t really mind. He’d learned that kids were just like that sometimes.

The other children were quick to echo that Vlad was in fact doing scary eyes and that was a very serious offense.

Danny shifted forms, changing into Phantom as Vlad came into the room as Plasmius, baring his fangs playfully at them and Danny had to try very hard not to laugh at how silly he looked, slightly hunched, over exaggerating his vampiric appearance, “Plasmius.” He bit out as seriously as he could, putting on his ‘hero’ voice.

“Ah, my old arch nemesis, Phantom. Who could have known you’d be here.”

His voice was haughty as their nieces and nephews squealed and laughed, picking up a chant of, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as Vlad stalked closer to them.

“Of course I’m here, it is my duty to defeat you and protect these innocent humans.”

“Innocent? Are you so sure of that, Phantom?” Vlad asked and Danny gasped dramatically as Gwen lifted Maddie in her arms to shove her into his face like some sort of weapon, making enthusiastic shooting sounds as she did.

“Gwen! How could you?” Danny said dramatically before falling to his knees, the others clambering on top of him to leave him utterly defeated as they turned against him.

“Ahaha Phantom, your kindness has made you weak, you tried to protect them, but how were you to know they were my minions all along.”

“Betrayal!” Danny cried as Cujo took him laying on the ground as an invitation to begin licking his face, pressing his hair into a distinct cowlick with his slobber. “All hope is lost, I've been defeated!”

The kids laughed and Vlad chuckled too, leaning over to pick up Maddie and give her a well earned ear scratching for putting up with their family as always. “Not only have you been defeated, but I believe one of your pancakes is burning, little badger.”

“And whose fault would that be, fruitloop?”

“Oh, I’ve no idea,” Vlad hummed, reaching out a hand to help Danny up from under the pile of kids even though he didn’t need the assistance.

Danny stood and kissed his husband lightly, smiling into the touch as everyone but them in the room said “Ew!” loudly, Dani included.

Vlad had half a mind to pull Daniel closer, to kiss him deeper and laugh at how the kids thought it was the worst thing in the world, but he had to let him go so he could take the over cooked pancake out of the pan.

Danny did so, tossing it in the trash with an overdone huff as Vlad helped handout plates, the kids scrambling to get their shares. Danielle passed out the fruit and juice boxes and soon enough everyone was filtering back into the living room to watch whatever the kids wanted to and eat their late lunch.

Vlad smiled as he watched Daniel take off his apron and pick up his own plate, following the kids and trying to explain to Cujo for the millionth time that he was dead and therefore couldn’t eat. Even if he could he was a dog and the pancakes had chocolate chips in it so no matter how you looked at it he couldn’t eat their food.

Danielle bumped his elbow lightly, her gaze tracking Daniel and their family just as Vlad had done, “Are you two… you know, still thinking about…” she rolled her hand in front of her and Vlad watched as Gwen crawled into Daniel’s lap.

He shrugged and didn’t answer. Instead he went to sit down beside his husband, pressing up comfortably against him as they ate. Kids weren’t really an important question at the moment. Maybe they would be at some point and time, but right now, surrounded by family, it didn’t seem to matter.

Vlad could remember watching Clemont in the hospital, watching him chase the murals on the walls, pretending he was a ship far out at sea before he’d fallen asleep, hands fisting in Dan’s shirt. Back then they’d thought to themselves that loving him, loving the family that grew around them, would have to be enough.

And it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end!  
> Aw I hope everyone liked it feels wild to finish T^T
> 
> Most of my notes for this chapter are going to be in the next chapter where I talk about like the fic as a whole so hop over there if ya wanna know what I’m thinking about.
> 
> Other than that I wanna thank Ghost Malone again for all their help betaing this chapter and helping me with Jazz and Val's kid's name!
> 
> Kudos and comments much appreciated! What did y’all think about the chapter? The ending? The fic overall? Did you cry at all and if so how much I need to know for uh... scientific purposes. <3
> 
> Also! Super fun fact, there’s a wonderful Danny Phantom discord server I’m a part of! It’s a super cool place to hang out and this fandom has made me feel so welcome so uwu check it out if ya'd like! 
> 
> https://discord.gg/u6cSG5b
> 
>   
> <3<3<3


	21. Final thoughts from the author.

**Notes on the last chapter.**

Did you know that some buildings have gravel on them to prolong their life from things like sun exposure I did not know that until I wrote the scene where that pops up on the hospital roof and I thought it was an interesting fun fact

So, do Vlad and Danny ever have kids?

  
I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. I cannot tell you. I feel like you’re just gonna have to each individually kind of imagine your own answer to that question of whether or not they become fathers or if they are just perpetually weird uncles who are very in love.

I thought a lot about each scenario and I wasn’t completely satisfied with either. I think it’s something that would take them a long time to consider and process. I can’t say for sure that they never would since forever is well, a long time and anything can happen, but I wanted to leave it open ended. I also wanted to avoid the idea that having kids fulfills your life and that should be like the ultimate goal of your existence. Their existence is still meaningful and satisfying even if they do not have children and also even if they still aren’t sure where they stand with the idea as a whole.

However, I did want to have everybody else have kids because I like kids in media personally and also I have a big family so that’s just a vibe that I enjoy. Sam and Tucker have five children because he grew up in a family with five children, so there’s a little fun fact.

I gave Dani a kid specifically to sort of show different relationships with death and dying and kind of be a foil to Danny. Danny ran so much from the deaths of others and his lessons revolving around mortality were hard won, but Dani formed different opinions on what dying means, especially since she ended up with a mortal person. Speaking of which, her partner, the one introduced in chapter 18 at Jazz and Val’s anniversary party, that’s Reese. I finally gave them a name. I couldn’t hecking think of one for them for so long and yea, they go by they/them fun fact. Also, I do think Dani would adopt again at some point, like I wrote, she doesn’t regret it. I like to think her side of the family also comes with a lot of found family type people because she found a family with Valerie. She’s about that life. Also, also she does eventually become an astronaut because Danny keeps inviting her to Mars.

Extra note - Something I found odd about writing this last chapter is how fond of Clemont I became. I didn’t expect to. I like him, he’s a good egg. I don’t know much about him other than he’s a troublemaker who is very stubborn, likes to joke around, and has curly hair. I just felt he had some vibes when I wrote him, so I guess he’s like an oc. I mean, technically all the kids and Reese would be ocs, but Clemont since I like him can be a capitalized letters OC.

**Notes on the fic as a whole.**

This has been an absolute joy to write. An adventure. I started this project in October, which is wild to think about because that’s only about four months that I’ve been working on this and yet it is so very long.

This project saw me through a lot of personal writing growth which I take a lot of pride in. It’s not perfect, there’s always things to improve and there are definitely portions I'm not too happy with. However, I feel like the progress that I made writing this fic was extremely fun to be a part of. I also made a lot of friends along the way and got welcomed into the fan community for this show. That was cool!

This last chapter in particular sees me at the cusp of another sort of milestone in my writing. These are periods of very compressed growth that I always tend to struggle with because it makes me feel like my writing is bad. I gain the ability to see the issues that I have with my writing, my current shortcomings and weaknesses, but I am not yet equipped to deal with them. It’s very frustrating that this period of growth fell right at the end. It made me feel like chapter 20 was extremely lacking in a lot of areas. However, I also feel like it’s kind of fitting that I’m going through this growth during the last chapter because as a whole like I said this entire fic has been pretty well about growing. It’s kind of like a thesis statement for writing and for why the writing process can sometimes be incredibly frustrating but also very rewarding because out of this frustration I have gotten the final chapter of this fanfiction and even though I personally i’m not as satisfied with it as I would like to be it is what it is and sometimes life is like that

Speaking of life being the way that it is, the last chapter as well as the fan fiction as a whole really focused in on some of my own personal feelings about death and dying which, as I wrote at one point in the story, are completely different things to me

So that was very interesting and it was also very cathartic to sort of delve into these different aspects of what I think dying is like and what I think bereavement is like. I also got to dig into forgiveness and the process of healing.

For this I do wish that I had given Dani a bit more attention, but I am fairly satisfied with what I got down for her story. She never considers Vlad her dad, even in the future. I wanted to keep it this way because as I showed earlier in the story I don’t think that forgiveness is the end-all be-all of growth. I don’t think it is the ultimate goal that a lot of people try to pass it off as

I also think that even if you do forgive someone it doesn’t mean that you owe them a space, or the same space, in your life, For Dani this was interesting to look at because she likes Vlad at a very platonic sort of level where they are friends, but he is not and he has never been her dad. That’s something that I wanted Vlad to live with because sometimes you don’t get everything you want and sure it’s not fun, but it doesn’t have to be sad forever. You can still be happy after those sorts of losses too. Hell, you can still have meaningful relationships after those kinds of bonds have been broken.

I got to touch on mundane death which I think is a sort of death that we don’t give enough attention to. There is a lot of media where death is very violent or dramatic or heroic but most people don’t die like that. Most people get old and just kind of go and so the last chapter, particularly Jack’s death, was kind of me looking at the kinds of experiences I’ve had with death. You know with the idea of loved ones passing. It’s not always big. Sometimes you really know it’s coming and it’s odd that that knowing does dull the pain occasionally, but it doesn’t fully fix it. I think that’s an important thing to talk about. I don’t know if you guys think it was mean that I just had him age and go through an injury that led to the slow decline of his body which caused his death, but a lot of the time that’s what death looks like. I think it’s important to sort of understand that and face it and also to talk to the people we love about dying before we, you know, start dying.

Something else that I briefly looked at here was the idea of loss of memory and the idea of is a person the same person that they were if they don’t have their memories. That’s a subject that is really personal to me and I do hope to explore it in some of my other works, probably my original works, because I’ve had family members that their minds aren't there at the end. Obviously, I don’t meet my ghost relatives who have forgotten a good portion of their lives, but I certainly have been around people who feel like ghosts of their former selves. There’s always this weird feeling to it that’s like, I know you are the person that you are but that person has changed so drastically for the person that I knew so are you still you.

I also find these discussions interesting and engaging and important. Aging is weird. Dying is weird. Being dead is weird.

Fun fact! I am taking a death and bereavement class this semester and it starts pretty soon. Technically it already has started but it’s the first week there’s not really a lot going on yet. But anyway I found it fitting that I’m beginning this this process of learning a more scientific standpoint on the ideas of what it means to die, how people process death, and how society looks at death while I have just come off this sort of literary adventure into my personal feelings on and viewpoints towards the process of not existing anymore.

So… I hope you guys liked the fic! I have more planned, I think like I got three Danny Phantom fics planned for the future. That’s exciting and I hope to see you! Thank you guys all so much for reading and engaging as much as you have and for just giving me a space into the phandom, I had no idea the place was still this active. 

Oh and a special thanks to the people who have been reading my end notes. Y’all are the real ones. I love ranting, knowing people read the rants is like 🥺.

Much love,

Just_a_useless_ writer (JAUW)  
Aka, Goodra, aka Olly.

<3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come vibe in the pompep discord server uwu!
> 
> https://discord.gg/u6cSG5b

**Author's Note:**

> Wow my first Danny Phantom fic  
> Never thought I’d be here, but the phandom has really pulled me in and my brain gave me this so here y’all go.
> 
> Also, for anyone wondering, yes, Danny will be aged up in the later chapters, boy is not staying 14 forever.
> 
> Kudos and comments appreciated!


End file.
